


Losing Altitude

by MagentasNightmare



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: AU, Action, Alternate Universe, Angst, Brotherly Love, DON'T LIKE - DON'T READ (I'm not changing what I write for anyone:), Danger!, Daryl Dixon/Carol Peletier Smut, Daryl has a Crush, F/M, Longing for someone you want, Merle and Andrea Fluff and Smut, Merle and Daryl are close, Plane Crash, Smut, Survival story, Surviving in the mountains of BC, ge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-15 01:58:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9214025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagentasNightmare/pseuds/MagentasNightmare
Summary: This story is hard to talk about without giving away the plot but it deals with an accident and the fallout from that. It features both Daryl and Merle who live a small down in the mountains/woods and they are going into business together. That's about all I can say.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My plan was to be posting the sequel to 'Thursday Night Safe Space' next but it's not ready, and this one caught my fancy when I got blocked on that one. I am 14 chapters into my sequel, but I want it to be just right before I post it, so it'll be a while yet. That story is going to be pretty XXX rated but it's just giving me troubles at the moment. lol
> 
> This story is one I started on months ago, and it's less than 20 chapters long. It focuses on one main event and goes back and forth between Merle and Daryl (like a lot of my stories). This one is not smutty, it just didn't fit the tone of the story. There is love, romance, and sex but it's just not explicit this time. Anyway, just figured I'd explain why this one is happening before the other one I mentioned. The muse is the one in control, not me. LOL
> 
> Teagan XOXO

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter One}** _

It was just about spring, but not quite yet. Daryl started to feel the air lose just a little of its bite, and he could almost smell the trees coming back to life.

Pitt Meadows was especially beautiful in the springtime, but Daryl found it beautiful even in the depths of winter. He'd never leave, no matter how much bigger cities like Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna called to him.

Most of his friends from school had gone to seek their fortune in a place with more opportunity, and he didn't really blame them. His own brother had gone that way but had been back in Pitt Meadows for a year now. Merle had been homesick for the natural beauty of his hometown nestled in the mountains and woods.

Anyone who wanted big money, a fancy house and a nightlife were smart to leave, but that wasn't for him.

Daryl always wanted the simple life, but he had ambition too. These days all of his efforts were pointed in the direction of business.

His brother had finally agreed to go in with him on an outfitters business and, though it wasn't open quite yet, they were making significant strides.

They had the business loan in place and had leased a little storefront building downtown, although 'downtown' in Pitt Meadows was really just Main Street. They were even approaching people to potentially invest in their little venture.

The world was their oyster, and he couldn't wait to see the doors open, it was only a couple of weeks away. Building something new and vibrant in the community he loved would be a dream come true.

Pitt Meadows was idyllic; wild, untouched forests, mountains, and lakes. It was God's country.

So much of his childhood had been spent with Merle in the surrounding woods. They hunted, fished and camped all over the area and could always be found outdoors. Merle taught him all about surviving in the forest; he was always reading books on the subject.

It made so much sense to Daryl that they go into this kind of business now, the outdoors was their lifelong passion.

All over the area, visitors came to fish, hunt and just be one with nature. A couple in the area had built 20 beautiful little cabins around Pitt Lake 3 years before, and they were filled almost year-round.

This is when Daryl could see the need for an outfitters store. People who came to hunt and fish had to drag out lots of gear, and if they needed anything while they were out there, they'd be out of luck.

It took extra effort to find the information about how to open a business; he was basically on his own in life. Daryl and Merle had no parents to help them out with anything like capital either. Their father was useless, and their mother was in a nursing home in Victoria after suffering a stroke. They visited her whenever they could, but she had a sister in the area who doted on her and she didn't want to burden them. They insisted it was no burden but she was a mother, and she insisted that they have their freedom. Beverly Dixon wanted her boys to spread their wings freely and grandchildren, she always pestered them for grandchildren.

With only 17,000 souls in town, most of the women Daryl knew felt like sisters or at least distant cousins. He'd gone to his high school prom with a girl he used to nap with as a toddler. They'd all gone to the same day cares, playgroups, and their mothers all had coffee with each other. He wanted someone in his life, but the only woman he was interested in was taken.

Carol, who'd helped him with the loan at the bank, was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She'd moved to town only the year before to be the new manager of their TD Bank. She had bright blue eyes, short brown hair and a smile that said she was up to something. She had a quirky sense of humor and made him laugh. His mother always said a partner who could make you laugh was crucial because life could be hard and laughter would pull you through. After being married to his father, he figured she must know a lot about that.

It stuck out in his mind that Carol made him laugh because he'd been so nervous. He didn't have any of the right paperwork when he first walked into the bank; he just had a dream.

She sat patiently as he explained what he wanted to accomplish and she helped him tirelessly for months. He had his parent's home for a little collateral; his truck was newer and decent, and Merle had a motorcycle. She directed him to the government programs and incentives that he could use to help him with a start up. She sent him links to information about writing a business plan, Carol held his hand through the whole process and helped him make his vision a possibility.

Just when he finally worked up the nerve to ask her out, he saw her walking down Main Street with Shane Walsh. For a moment he hoped they were just friends until Shane wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed the side of her neck as she stopped to take a picture. He thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't asked her yet and tried to forget about her, but it wasn't easy.

She consumed his thoughts, and he knew he'd be keeping an ear out for if things didn't work out between them. She seemed happy enough so he wouldn't intrude, but if she ever became single, he'd make a move in a heartbeat.

It was all coming together now, and he could feel it. He was 28, Merle was 32, and they were both ready to do something the whole town could be proud of. It would be a lot of hard work but with a little Dixon grit, charm and pig-headed stubbornness they'd do it up right.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter Two}** _

Daryl woke up by 5 am the way he typically did and was outside in the backyard chopping wood for the fireplace before the sun was fully risen.

The home he'd been left by his parents was rustic and small, but it felt like home despite a few unhappy memories. His father didn't physically abuse them, but even so, he wasn't much of a father. When he wasn't ill-tempered and impatient, he was distant and cold. Daryl and Merle had their mother, though, and she was always good to them.

Beverly always complained that she could never keep either of her boys in the house, but he and Merle were built for the woods.

He splashed some water over his face from the rain barrel next to the back steps where months of snow had mostly melted and growled at the cold. The bracing cool and fresh air were what Daryl liked most. Down in Pitt Meadows, spring felt a lot closer than up in the mountains where the air was still freezing, and snow was piled high.

He was just heading indoors, after stacking the wood, to make coffee when he noticed movement on the road out front. A flash of red caught his eye, and it was her again.

Carol would occasionally jog past his house, and he always stopped to watch as she did.

Her light brown hair would be glistening with sweat and her cheeks flushed with exertion. Daryl made himself look away and shook his head just hoping Shane was good to her.

Shane Walsh was strong, loud and proud and the object of every woman's affection. In Daryl's eyes, it made sense for him to have a woman like Carol. He figured she must be into confidence and a man who could get everyone's attention; that wasn't him at all.

He was quiet and reflective, not a social butterfly by any stretch of the imagination.

Daryl sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee to read his email, and when the phone rang he wasn't surprised to see it was Merle, it often was.

"Hey, man, what's up?"

"Not too much, little brother, unless you count getting a call from Alan Carlson."

Daryl paused and had to take a moment to digest it.

"He called? What did he say?"

Alan Carlson was the head of a major chain of Canadian outfitters that Merle had contacted. From what Merle had read, Alan had grown up in the North and was a true outdoorsman. Before becoming one of the most successful businessmen in the country he'd been just like them, by all accounts he still basically was.

Merle wrote a letter asking him if he would consider investing in their little venture or assisting them in getting up and running. Daryl and Merle secretly hoped to become part of his franchise, but in such a small community it wasn't likely in Merle's opinion.

Alan Carlson invested in smaller Canadian companies, and Merle figured it was worth a shot, all he could say was no.

"He said he wants to meet me to discuss it and get this; he wants to talk while hunting!"

"You're my fucking hero right now!"

Daryl was so excited; this was just the kind of break they needed and Merle was great with people. Daryl was the guy in the background who planned and organized and Merle had the 'gift of the gab.'

"He wants me to fly out to Pemberton the day after tomorrow to discuss the investment details."

"Jesus! That's incredible. You coming over?"

"Yeah, I'll be over right away, just gotta pick up a few things for the trip."

"See you in a bit. You did good, man!"

"Thanks."

_**/** _

Merle arrived within the hour, and they discussed the trip in greater detail.

"I fucking hate flying, and it'll be one of those little pissy planes that Shane flies," Merle shuddered, "but this could be our big shot. I still can't believe Carlson called back."

"Did you want me to go instead?" Daryl offered.

"It's OK; I'll go."

"So are you taking stuff to show him from our stock for the store?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, he said to bring some of our products and all the bank paperwork so maybe you could double check with Carol at the bank to make sure of what we'll need. I didn't want to ask him and sound like a total novice," Merle laughed, getting up to grab a beer for them both.

"I'll go see her in the morning," Daryl nodded, excited that he had an excuse to go to the bank.

"It'll be her boyfriend flying the plane I bet."

"Probably."

Shane flew all the little delivery flights and short trips around the area. Daryl had taken one of his flights to Victoria to visit his mother, but it was before Carol moved to town. They both knew Shane from high school, and Merle had been pretty good friends with him back then.

Merle stayed for a few hours, and they watched a hockey game together like always.

That evening Daryl went to bed early after trying to organize some of the paperwork he had in a folder and thought about seeing Carol in the morning.

_**/** _

The next day he was up with the sun and trimming his facial hair at the bathroom sink. The way he got so spruced up for a woman he couldn't have was comical, and he knew it. He put on a new white dress shirt and his best cologne and rolled his eyes at his own desperation before leaving the house.

He drove downtown to eat breakfast at the diner across from the bank, waiting for it to open. She always told him he didn't need an appointment and that she'd 'squeeze him in' anytime.

He drank his coffee and ate an omelet as he watched for her arriving at work.

Eventually, she pulled up outside the bank and got out of her car. She was wearing a gray pencil skirt and red heels, and he couldn't help wishing she wasn't so attractive. It hurt just to look at her sometimes.

He finished his breakfast and bought some gum at the counter so his breath would smell good, as if it mattered especially.

He walked in before any other bank customers arrived, and there she was organizing a bunch of files at her desk.

"Daryl! Hey, what brings you here?"

She smiled sweetly at him, and he came closer holding his stack of papers.

"Merle is meeting a potential investor in Pemberton tomorrow, and they said he needs the appropriate bank documents. We didn't know which he meant and didn't want to ask and sound like idiots," he shrugged.

She giggled and waved him over to sit at her desk.

"I'll print up what you need," she said. "So who's this investor?"

"It's none other than Alan Carlson," he grinned.

Daryl hoped it would impress her, he was a puppy for her praise and attention but spent a great deal of his time pretending that wasn't true. Merle could see it, but then again Merle knew him better than he knew himself.

"That's amazing! I'm going to put this in a really official looking folder with the gold embossed writing on the front for ya," she winked.

"Thanks."

"You and Merle are really making things happen now! I can't wait to shop at your store but then I'll have to learn about camping and fishing. I'm a city girl so I guess that's kinda hopeless, though," she laughed.

"I could teach you all about that," he blurted. "I mean...if you ever wanted me to."

"I'd love that. I never expected to be living anywhere so remote and wild. I can't help feeling like a fish out of water here still, even the little kids around here know how to hunt."

"Doesn't Shane take you out in the bush?" he asked and then immediately regretted bringing his name up.

Daryl didn't even want to remember Shane existed, but he did exist, and that was the reality.

"No...things are actually kinda rocky on that front," she shrugged.

"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that," he said, lying through his teeth while screaming 'YES!' on the inside.

"It's OK. I guess he'll be flying Merle to Pemberton tomorrow, at least that's one day away from the bickering," she laughed.

He laughed along although he didn't know what the issues were between them.

"I'm sorry, it's not very professional of me to talk to you about that. I just feel like we've gotten close while setting up your business."

"Me too, you've been so nice to me," he smiled, feeling embarrassed by her eyes looking right through him.

She organized the documents and put them in a fancy folder that she pulled from a cabinet behind her desk.

"Wish Merle luck for me," she smiled.

"I will. Thank you, Carol."

"I guess I won't have as much reason to see you anymore now that you're all set up," she shrugged.

"I guess not...unless you really wanted me to show you some outdoorsy stuff."

He was grasping at straws for any reason to see her again, and he worried that it sounded obvious.

"I'd like that if you have the time."

"Sure! Anytime you want," he smiled.

She wrote her cell number down on a post-it note and handed it to him, he couldn't believe his luck.

A day with her in the woods with everything on the rocks between her and Shane sounded full of potential. Daryl wasn't directly trying to steal her away from Shane, he was more than happy just to be around her for a day, but he couldn't help feeling hopeful that soon she'd be available and maybe he'd find the guts to make a move. He wasn't cocky and confident like Shane but he genuinely cared about her and maybe that would be enough.

He said goodbye after thanking her again and walked out onto the street feeling like suddenly anything was possible.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter Three}** _

Merle was up at 10 am and packing his bags for the trip when he got a call from Daryl.

"Hey man, what's up?" he said, putting the phone on speaker and rolling up a pair of socks.

"Thanks again for taking this trip for us. I just get all messed up trying to talk to business type people."

"I know that, it's alright. You do all the paperwork shit that I hate doing so it balances out, right?" Merle laughed.

"True, I guess, but I know you hate flying."

"It's no big deal, I'm taking a bottle and getting a buzz on before we take off," he joked.

Daryl knew this probably wasn't a joke; he'd have his flask in his pocket for sure and probably a 'mickey' in his suitcase too.

"Remember your charger for your phone and call me as soon as you land, OK?" Daryl added.

"Yep. I gotta pick up that paperwork from you first, though, right?"

"Oh right. Cool, see ya soon."

**/**

Merle stopped by Daryl's place and listened to Daryl 'discreetly' go on and on about Carol. It was a little sad the way he pined so much over a taken woman, but Daryl was a little shy and clueless when it came to women.

Merle was the louder type, not that he was any more successful with the fairer sex, though. Maybe they'd both wind up as lonely, grumpy old men someday, bitching on the porch about 'young punks these days.'

Merle arrived at the little building that passed for an airport and checked in with the counter attendant before dipping into his liquid courage.

"The flight is going to be a little late so just have a seat while we're waiting for the pilot," the lady at the counter informed him.

"Great, more time to sit and agonize."

"I'm sorry, Sir."

"It's alright, honey. I'm sorry...I just hate flying."

"I'm taking this flight back too, so at least you won't be alone," she laughed.

"You ain't from here are you?" he asked when it dawned on him that the pretty blonde was actually carrying on a conversation with him.

"No, I just filled in for the week here. I work at the Pemberton airport."

"Cool," he smiled. "What's your name? You know...since we're gonna be flying together and all."

Smooth, Merle...real smooth...

"Andrea Harrison," she said, holding out her hand to him."

"Merle Dixon. So we're the only ones on the flight? How is that economical?"

"There was a cancellation of three other people in a group and the plane only seats 9 anyway."

"Jesus! It's like a toy plane," he laughed nervously.

Merle chatted her up a little more and had to wait another 45 minutes for Shane to finally arrive.

"What the hell took you so long?" he asked, grabbing his bags and heading to the plane across a field to the runway with Andrea. He had a fair amount of gear with him that he was planning to show Alan Carlson. He had a large duffle bag, a backpack and a carry-on bag for his clothes but he managed it all easily, he was strong as an ox.

"I had a shitty day, bro," Shane groaned. "My damn girlfriend dumped me and then I got a flat tire on the way, so gimme a break."

"That sucks," Merle noted. "You're off the hook then."

Shane laughed and started his pre-flight checks on the plane.

"Plenty more fish in the sea, though, hey Merle?" Shane laughed.

"Yeah, I wouldn't know much about that, but I know you won't be single long."

It was goofy guy talk, but Merle tried to keep it all polite in front of Andrea.

Merle and Andrea boarded soon after and she pulled out a book and started to read. He watched her calmly turn the pages and drift off to her own world, but he was scared and needed someone to talk to so he decided to pester her a little.

"So you aren't scared of flying, huh?"

She looked up from her book and across the narrow aisle to him.

"No, I do it a lot so...are you scared?" she asked.

"Yeah, a little," he answered, but it was a lot more than a little.

He pulled his flask from his jacket and took a long swig.

"Shane's a good pilot from everything I've heard, it's going to be OK," she insisted.

"I'll trust you then, I'm a sucker for a pretty face," he added, just trying his luck since she'd be landing in the same place as him. Maybe she'd be soft-hearted and let him take her out for dinner; it was worth a shot anyway.

Andrea smiled and turned pink before looking back down at her book, and he figured that was better than the eye roll he normally got from women.

Merle had been single for almost a year and was starting to forget what sex felt like. He flirted in quantity and not quality; the more times he tried, the better his chances, he figured.

Shane completed his checks and Merle decided to text Daryl with the good news about Carol being newly single, maybe Daryl could offer her a shoulder to cry on.

_**~ Good news, brother! Your dream girl is available;)** _

He waited for the plane to get going and listened to all the terrifying sounds it made as it fired up and a steady wind blew against the body of the aging aircraft.

"This thing sounds like an old amusement ride, Shane. Are you the carnie?" Merle joked.

"Shut up, Dixon!" he shot back.

"Sorry, man. I just hate flying."

"I know what I'm doing so keep it quiet back there, or I'll push you out over the fucking mountains."

"You and what army?" he laughed his gravelly laugh.

Shane rolled his eyes, and soon they were heading down the runway at top speed, and Merle clung to the armrests of the seat, and he closed his eyes tight.

He felt a hand reach across the aisle and touch his arm, and he jumped.

"We just took off...it's all OK," Andrea smiled.

"I swear to God I'm not a total pussy," he winced.

"That's not true, Andrea, he really is a total pussy," Shane joked.

"Hey, watch it!" Merle growled.

"You two are comical," Andrea giggled.

Merle finally got a response from Daryl, and he felt good for him, Daryl had liked Carol for months.

_**~ You mean Carol? She's single now? Don't fuck with me please** _

_**~ I wouldn't joke about this, I know you're all messed up over her. Shane just said she dumped him.** _

_**~ She gave me her number but should I wait to call?** _

_**~ Not unless you want to see her with someone else. Just go for it!** _

_**~ Good idea. How's the flight?** _

_**~ I'm fucking pissing myself! It's like flying in a tin can! O_O** _

_**~ I'm sorry, I'll take the next flight if we need to do it again.** _

_**~ It's OK. There's this really cute blonde right next to me; I'm gonna see if I can arouse a little of her**_ _**sympathy.**_

_**~ Go get 'er! Lol** _

_**~ That's the plan. I'll call when I get there** _

_**~ Cool** _

**_/_ **

Daryl planned to pretend he had no idea that Carol was single. He didn't like being dishonest, but he'd sound like a creep calling her up like 'So I hear you've been single for less than a day...you wanna go out with me?'.

Merle was right, if he waited she'd find someone else.

Daryl was antsy and had no idea how to pull off the cocky banter that Merle did.

He pulled out her number and hesitated until it got ridiculous before dialing her number.

"Hello?"

"Hi...Carol?"

"Yes?"

"It's just me. Daryl."

"Oh hey! I didn't recognize your voice over the phone."

She sounded surprisingly chipper considering her relationship had just ended, maybe Merle had heard it wrong.

"So...how's your day going?"

He was fudging up the conversation already but had to keep rolling with it now.

"Pretty good, just been lounging around and watching TV...things ended with Shane, so it's kind of an off day."

"Sorry about that. Did you want me to let you go?" he asked, feeling like he was intruding on her time.

"No. Actually, I should probably get myself off the couch and take a walk or something. Did you want to come?"

"Sure," he answered sounding overly excited.

"I bet you know a great place to hike in the area."

"I do, yeah. When did you want to go?"

"Right away if you're free."

"I could come pick you up."

"Sure. I live at 701 George St."

"Great, be right over."

The conversation ended, and he jumped up to go find something to wear.

Daryl couldn't believe he was going to be spending the day with her. He had daydreamed of hanging out with her so many times. Sometimes he made believe that he'd be really funny and make her laugh, he'd say everything right, and she would fall as much in love with him as he was with her. In Daryl's mind he could be quick-witted and clever, the kind of man women found really sexy. He sighed, looking at the man in the mirror who was sweating through his shirt just thinking about her and laughed at his own fantasies.

He dug through his closet for a clean pair of jeans and a flannel shirt. It was still very chilly, so he added some layers underneath and grabbed a touque and some gloves. He packed a backpack with a few essential survival items; opening an outfitters meant that he was always prepared. Merle taught him what was important to take as a child and he still made sure to be prepared. He threw in some water and trail mix in case she got hungry or thirsty.

Daryl stood at the front door and realized he was sweating again already, but he swallowed hard and just left before he could chicken out.

He got into his truck and drove straight to her house where she was on the steps waiting when he pulled up. She had jeans on and a red and black flannel shirt that matched his own and he laughed to himself as he got out of the truck to meet her.

"Aren't we goofy?" she giggled.

"Twins," he agreed.

"Screw it, we look good," she said, picking up her own backpack and walking toward the truck.

They began driving out of town, and she asked where they were heading.

"Grant Narrows, if that works for you."

"I've never been there, so I'm up for anything."

"There's a walking trail around the marsh and a lot of different birds and wildlife in the area...it's pretty,"

"Sounds perfect. I brought my camera so maybe I can get some pictures."

"That's a good idea," he said, gripping the wheel and smiling over at her.

Daryl just kept driving and turned on the radio to fill in the silence from the words he couldn't find.

_**She knows what I think about** _   
_**And what I think about** _   
_**One love, two mouths** _   
_**One love, one house** _   
_**No shirt, no blouse** _   
_**Just us, you find out** _   
_**Nothing that I wouldn't wanna tell you about, no** _

_**'Cause it's too cold** _

_**For you here and now** _   
_**So let me hold** _   
_**Both your hands in the holes of my sweater** _

_**And if I may just take your breath away** _

_**I don't mind if there's not much to say** _

_**Sometimes the silence guides our minds** _   
_**So move to a place so far away** _

She became quiet, and he had a feeling she was thinking about Shane.

"Are you sad?" he asked.

Daryl wasn't always good at wording things or emotional conversations, but he was trying his best.

"A little, just disappointed at my luck. It's hard to find people who are...I think I'm looking for the word genuine. Everyone seems to have an angle."

"I think I understand. I'm not great at reading people, so I get conned sometimes," he admitted. "I always think everyone means what they say just because I do."

"Me too," she said.

He looked over at her briefly, and she was smiling at him; it was a great day so far.

He parked up in a gravel lot at the edge of the marsh, and they headed down the footpath through the trees, just taking in the fresh mountain air and chatting.

She had earmuffs, mittens and a long red scarf wrapped twice around her neck; he thought she looked adorable.

"You're all bundled up like a kid," he teased.

"I'm not a fan of the cold, but I love the fresh air. It really is pretty out here," she sighed, stopping to look out over the marsh and take out her camera.

She took a bunch of pictures and caught a nice one of a red-tailed hawk and another of a sandhill crane.

"Come see," she said, showing him the pictures as he looked over her shoulder.

Daryl was so excited and hoped and prayed that he wasn't being placed in the friend zone. He wanted her even more than before. The more she spoke, and the more he was around her, the stronger his feelings became.

They found a clearing where he lay a ground sheet on the snow for them to sit and drink some water.

"This is waterproof," she noted, pulling off her mitten to feel the material.

"Yep, we're gonna sell these at the store when it opens. There's all kinds of new technology for the outdoors now. Maybe you could come to the grand opening since you're the main reason we succeeded at this."

"I just helped," she smiled.

"No, you were crucial to this turning out the way it did. I'm really grateful for that."

She just looked at him, and his heart felt like it was swelling in his chest.

They were all alone in the woods, the sun shining down was making the snow around them sparkle, and he couldn't help thinking of kissing her.

"I'd love to come along if you want me to."

"I really want you to," he said.

The world had stopped moving, and her smile and those big blue eyes were all he cared about.

Murphy's law interrupted a beautiful moment in the form of a text, but it was one that wouldn't leave his mind as long as he lived.

_**~ pretty sure we're gonna crash Daryl if I don't make it just know i love you brother** _


	4. Chapter 4

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter Four}** _

"Jesus Christ!" Daryl snapped, jumping to his feet.

"What's wrong? What is it?" Carol exclaimed.

"The plane...it's going down!"

"Here!" she said, snatching his phone and texting back immediately after reading the message.

~ Where are you?

Daryl looked at what she'd texted, and they kept trying to text more messages to him, not really expecting an answer. She tried Shane but didn't expect a response since he was the pilot.

Daryl paced and shook his head.

"Why did I let him go? He hated flying! I should have gone instead. What have I done?"

"Daryl, listen to me. We have to get back to town and call the authorities. They might have made it, you never know."

He looked at her with grief already in his eyes, and he realized that she had lost someone too.

"Shane and Merle and that blonde woman he mentioned...what if they're all dead?" he asked.

"We can't know that now...but if they are still alive out there then we need to get to them, right? Let's go!"

Carol called emergency services and explained the situation before they did anything else, and she tried to calm Daryl down, but he was almost hysterical.

She pulled him along, and eventually they broke into a jog to get back to the truck faster.

"Give me your keys," she insisted, and he handed them over to her.

Carol drove back to town, and they barely said a word all the way there.

Daryl wouldn't put down his phone; he just called over and over again although he knew it was pointless. As much as Carol was panicking about Shane and Merle, she felt someone had to keep their head, and it wasn't going to be Daryl at the moment.

She let him do what he needed to do and just drove until they got to the police station. They needed a search to begin right away but had no clue where to direct them.

They walked in and spoke with Rick, who was the new police chief in town.

Carol filled him in on the details while Daryl sat endlessly texting to no avail.

"We'll get helicopters to cover the flight path and assemble some searchers, but we need to gather some people who know the terrain, so we don't end up with more people to rescue," Rick explained.

"I know the terrain better than probably anyone and I have all the gear," Daryl said, suddenly snapping out of it when he realized he could do something useful.

"That's good. I can get them to take you up there right away with the EMT and Mountain Rescue Unit. Anybody else you can think of who can come along? The more capable people we have, the better."

"I can go," Carol nodded.

Rick asked her if she had experience in the mountains and she lied through her teeth that she did.

"She can search with me," Daryl added.

"I guess you'll want to go because of Shane," Rick sighed.

"Right," she agreed, thinking if it got her on the search party then she didn't care if people still thought they were together.

"Go grab all your gear and meet me back here in an hour. I need time to assemble the team and get the chopper called in."

"OK. We'll be right back."

_** / ** _

Daryl took her back to his place where he began to gather his equipment and could barely think straight.

"Daryl, do I need to bring anything too?"

"We can stop by your house for some clothes if you need to...are you sure you want to come? It could be dangerous."

"I'm coming with you; I have to. I don't think I need any more clothes. "

"OK," he nodded.

He packed all his survival gear and went to the bedroom to throw on thermal underwear. He didn't want to even think of the cold while he was out there, he just wanted to find Merle.

"Do you have any thermals?" he called out to Carol in the living room.

"Any what?"

Daryl poked his head out the door and clarified.

"Long johns?"

"No, do I need that?"

"Yeah, it'll keep you warm up there. There's no buildings or anything to warm up."

He grabbed another pair for her, and she looked at him funny at being handed a pair of his underwear to put on.

She nodded and went into the bathroom to change.

Daryl could hardly think straight, but he realized they had to do everything they could do; he couldn't just presume his only brother and best friend was dead.

_** / ** _

The helicopter was dispatched before they returned to the police station and Daryl was livid.

"They were supposed to wait," he argued.

"The search team was ready to go, so they left. You want them searching right?"

"Of course," Daryl sighed.

"Another team is coming from further up north to take you out in about an hour."

Carol could see how wound up Daryl was so she jumped in to try and get more information; she didn't think he'd mind, and he seemed to need some support.

"Does the plane have some kind of signal? Can they get some idea of the location that way?" she asked.

"It's an old plane," the officer informed her, shuffling through some papers to find more information. "Says here it's a 1963 Beechcraft Musketeer."

"Jesus! Why did he take that old piece of junk?" Carol groaned. "I thought he'd be taking the Cessna 180."

"You sure know a lot about planes," Daryl noted.

"Not really, just the ones he flew. I know the Cessna is newer and a much more reliable plane."

The officer kept reading from the papers hot off the fax machine and informed them that the owner of the plane said there was an (ELT) or Emergency Location Transmitter on board. It hadn't been activated by a crash, and nobody had activated it manually, so the outcome was unfortunately still unclear.

"So what does that mean?" Daryl asked, getting more frustrated with each new piece of information that just led to more questions.

"Normally in a crash the ELT will be activated by the impact but the one on this plane wasn't. It can also be activated manually, but that wasn't done either. We don't know what this means, but it's possible that the plane didn't actually crash, maybe they managed to land somewhere."

Daryl sat down in a chair by the door and dropped his head to his hands; there were too many damned questions for his liking, and he was worried sick.

Carol sat next to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulder.

"We'll do everything we can," she assured him.

"I just feel so guilty; it should have been me that went...Merle is just so much better with people than I am."

"I feel horrible myself...I feel like a monster, to be honest."

"It's not your fault, Carol."

"I ended it with him right before a flight...why the hell didn't I wait? Maybe that's why everything went wrong. Maybe he was angry or sad about it," her voice caught in her throat then, when the gravity of everything hit her.

"Don't say that, Carol. It's nobody's fault."

She looked at him, and it was evident they were in the same boat and had only each other to cling to in the storm swirling around them.

Carol just sat with him and stayed close; there was little either of them could say so they just watched the clock awaiting some way to proceed.

Finally, the door opened and a man in a leather jacket called to the officer at the desk that they were ready for the second group to leave.

The man was easily 6 foot tall with a full head of red hair with an accompanying handlebar mustache.

"You two coming?" he asked like he didn't have time to screw around.

Daryl and Carol both stood up immediately and followed him out the front door to take a truck to the airport.

Daryl was terrified of finding out that he'd lost Merle, but he needed to know the truth.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter Five}** _

Merle was trying to maintain a conversation with Andrea, but a strange tension was seeping in that couldn't be denied, and he had to speak up.

"What the hell is going on?" Merle shouted when he could sense danger in Shane's silence and the way he was gripping the controls. The turbulence was unnerving, and Merle had been on high alert since they took off, so he noticed every little thing.

"Shut up, Dixon!"

The route Shane had taken led them northwest, threading up through the Coast Mountains toward Whistler.

They'd taken a turn across Highway 99 toward Pemberton and up into a ring of mountains surrounding Callaghan Lake Provincial Park. The provincial park was a huge space of land taking up 2,691 hectares, the mountains surrounding it were foreboding but beautiful.

The aircraft had entered a blind canyon where there was no retreat. Merle wasn't aware of the change in route that Shane had decided on, he only knew it was looking bad and that this might be it for him. This was not the standard route, and it was a tragic error on Shane's part.

"Can you pull out of it?" Andrea asked, the panic in her voice was enough to make Merle even more scared.

"It's the fucking altitude," Shane shot back. "It's gotta be 3,500 feet to get outta the goddamn valley, and I don't have enough speed!"

Merle could feel it all falling apart and grabbed his phone to text Daryl.

"I ain't ready to die, Shane!" Merle hollered as he hit send on his phone and then the plane started to rattle like it would fall apart. The glacier on the mountain ahead looked like a likely final resting place as the nose sank further toward the horizon.

Andrea reached for Merle's arm and begged him to hold her.

He could hear a text coming back from Daryl, but it wouldn't do any good to answer it now. The frightened woman beside him didn't want to die alone; how could he deny her basic human comfort?

"Come here!" he yelled over the thundering sound of losing altitude.

"If I don't try to land it we'll just hit stalling speed and then we'll be really fucked!" Shane screamed.

"Fuck sakes, Shane!" Merle pleaded, but he decided that it had become more important just to make the shaking woman in his arms feel less alone.

Andrea had slid across the aisle onto his lap and was hiding her face in his coat.

"We're gonna die!" she sobbed, as the ice on the mountain came too close for comfort.

"At least you won't have to turn me down when I tried to ask you out in Pemberton!" he shouted over the sound of treetops scraping the bottom of the plane. It was just like Merle to attempt humor in the final moments of his life.

"Jesus!" Andrea cried out, clinging to him with all her might.

"Hold on, honey...you're gonna be OK!"

Merle closed his eyes, but in the final seconds, he decided to lay her on the floor of the plane. He covered her body with his own as the world became so loud that it didn't seem possible.

"You're gonna make it, honey. Don't you worry, OK? You're gonna make it," he repeated although he had no idea if any of them would survive.

Then there was impact and darkness like flicking off a switch.

_**/** _

When Merle opened his eyes, he was shivering and pressed against a piece of metal at the back of what had been the plane. The dying light of day was coming in through the twisted skeletal remains of the aircraft.

"Andrea!"

His voice was supposed to be loud, but it was a strangled and pitiful sound, and there was no response. He tried to sit up but his right wrist appeared to be fractured, and he couldn't put weight on it. It wasn't a fracture that was severe or one that wouldn't heal just fine in time, but the swelling and bruising made it pretty obvious that his right arm wouldn't be of much use to him.

He pulled himself up with his left arm and found that besides his wrist, his head was cut and bleeding and his entire body ached like he'd taken a hell of a beating.

He crawled through the wreckage and started tossing broken pieces of the plane, luggage and miscellaneous scraps out of the way until he came across a leg sticking out from under an overturned airplane seat. Her jeans were pulled up enough on her calf that he could see her skin and it looked pale; it scared him.

"Jesus Christ," he uttered, reaching out to touch the flesh to see if it was cold.

He didn't want to see that beautiful young woman dead...if she were dead, he wouldn't have the guts to look any closer.

When his hand finally made contact with her skin, she began to scream, and he almost pissed himself.

"Help me! I can't move!" she cried out. "Please, help me!"

"It's me, it's Merle," he said, rubbing her leg to comfort her somehow. "I can help you, honey, just calm down."

"I've been calling for hours!" she cried. "I thought you were both dead!"

She was understandably emotional, and he felt awful that she'd been trapped and alone for so long.

"I'm sorry, honey. I think the crash fucked up my head a little. Can you tell if you're injured anywhere?" he asked, as he started trying to lift up the seat.

"I'm so cold I can't even feel my own body," she answered. Her voice sounded weak, and she was crying softly to herself; it tore him apart, he had to help her.

"I need to get home to my boy," she sobbed. "I can't die out here!"

"Boy?" he asked.

"My son...he's been with my ex-boyfriend while I was working in Pitt Meadows. I need to get home."

"I'll get you home, honey," he vowed.

Merle was having trouble getting the seat to budge, so he pressed his boots against another piece of twisted metal and used his lower back to lift it and create a space for her to get out.

It was taking all his strength, and he asked her to crawl out if she could.

Andrea squirmed out without actually getting to her feet, and she sat on what remained of the floor of the aircraft still crying.

"Oh my God, Merle! You're bleeding," she exclaimed.

"Don't worry about that, I'm fine," he insisted.

"Shane didn't respond even once...I think he might be dead," she winced, looking toward the front of the plane.

The glass of the windshield was busted, and most of the nose was caved in. It didn't look promising, and he didn't want her to see it.

Merle took off his coat and wrapped it around her before going to investigate. She was only in jeans and a bunnyhug and her cheeks look lifeless and pale with the cold.

"Don't move, OK?" he warned.

He didn't want to see a dead body either, especially not of a man he'd known for years. Hope against hope died when he saw a blue hand clutching the controls, and Shane's body slumped over the front control panel.

"Shane didn't make it," he said, looking back at her.

It was starting to grow darker quickly, and Merle knew that the crash site was not the place to stay if they wanted to survive. It would be especially cold at the top of the mountain where they had crashed. They needed to get lower down where the wind would be less intense.

"Oh dear God," she uttered. "What do we do with him?"

"I'm gonna leave him for now. We gotta get moving before the temperature drops and the wind picks up."

"Where?" she asked, still sitting and looking up at him.

Merle hoped she was able to walk; he wanted to see if she could stand. There was every possibility she had a broken bone that she just didn't know about yet. Shock and cold could disguise all kinds of injuries.

"We're just at the edge of Callaghan Lake Provincial Park...it's a bit of a hike down the mountain, but there's caves just a little lower down."

"Shouldn't we stay here?" she asked.

"I don't think so. If they don't come before dark, we could freeze up here. It's 40F now, but it'll drop to 14F or colder tonight. We need to find a cave."

"But what if they do come?"

"We could leave a letter. I have some gear with me that I was taking to a meeting. We'll be OK till they find us."

As luck would have it, his gear wasn't buried, and he thanked God for that.

She looked up at him, tears still welling up in her eyes and he knew he had to take the lead until she was feeling more stable.

He was going to check his cell phone, but it wasn't in his pocket, and he figured it could be anywhere in the wreckage and would likely be broken. It felt like a huge waste of time to search for it.

"Do you have a phone?" he asked.

"It was in my purse," she muttered, looking around her like a lost child.

"Forget it; there probably wouldn't be a signal up here anyway. Can you walk?" he asked.

"I think so."

He bent down to offer her his hands, and she got to her feet slowly. To his delight, she didn't appear to have serious injuries.

Merle took a few minutes to load everything he'd brought along to show Alan Carlson, and that included his hunting gear and all the survival products he was planning to show him.

He lay all of the gear onto a smooth piece of steel from the aircraft and decided to drag it over the snow like a sleigh. Andrea watched as he tied a rope around an end of the 'sleigh' and threw his rifle over his shoulder after loading it.

"So this is what you brought in all those bags?" she asked.

"I was on my way for a business meeting/hunting trip. I have all kinds of stuff to keep us alive, so I don't want you to worry, OK honey?"

"OK."

She finally noticed he was doing everything with only his left hand and she asked what was wrong.

"Pretty sure it's broken, just a stress fracture or something, but I got a first aid kit in my gear so I can wrap it up later."

"Oh God! Does it hurt a lot?"

"It's killin' me," he laughed. "But I gotta get you where it's warm. Now that you mention it, I can't be writing any letters with my left hand, can you do it?"

"Of course."

Merle took out one of the bank documents he'd picked up from Daryl and a pen from his bag, and they formulated a letter on the back with a special note about her son and where her ex-boyfriend could be reached. The letter was taped to Shane's coat, where it would surely be found, and they left in hopes of finding somewhere to stay warm for the night.

He pulled the rope for the sleigh over his shoulder and held his good hand out to her.

"You coming?" he smiled.

"Yes."

"You're gonna make it home just fine, OK? I won't let anything happen to you."

"Thank you, Merle."

"It's nothing. I just hope we can find a safe place to call home for the night."

Although the (ELT) was on the plane, the one person who knew of its existence hadn't survived. The crash hadn't been a hard enough impact to trigger the sensor, and so it lay idle, not alerting anyone to their location.

_**###################################** _

_**All of the details from this story regarding the crash come from an article I read while researching. In the actual crash, there were two men on the plane and both survived with no injuries. The (ELT) did not function, and the survivors were randomly found by snowmobilers. The location and the reason for the crash are the same as in the article and also the type of plane. I don't know about these things, so finding actual facts about it helped to hopefully make it more realistic and more enjoyable for the reader. Thanks for reading:) Teagan XOXO** _


	6. Chapter 6

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter 6}** _

It was already getting late in the day when they got up in the helicopter over the flight path and Daryl worried that it would be getting dark soon. He sat next to the window of the chopper and scanned the ground with binoculars as another searcher looked out the other side.

It seemed well organized, and that made Daryl feel better. The mountain rescue team often had to search for skiers or snowmobilers who went out of bounds or got caught in bad weather.

They were marking off all the areas they'd checked on the flight path but hadn't come across anything yet.

Daryl stared at the map and tried to make sense of where they could be.

"What about the park?" he yelled to Abraham.

"He wouldn't have gone that way; nobody takes that route."

"But what if he did?"

"It makes the most sense to check this way first," the pilot hollered back. "If we don't find anything this way then we'll check there tomorrow."

Daryl sighed and looked over at Carol.

"I hope they're OK," she said.

She was starting to look exhausted, and they both hadn't eaten anything since before the walk earlier in the day.

It didn't feel right to do anything except search when their loved ones could be dead, or cold and hungry. The only thing that felt right was searching.

Daryl kept calling and texting Merle even though he knew he'd get no answer; it was the only thing he could do.

Hours passed as they flew all the way to Pemberton and back. The pilot communicated with the other helicopter and both had turned up absolutely nothing.

"We're heading back for the night," Abraham informed them.

"They'll freeze out there!" Carol exclaimed. "We have to find them."

"We can't see anything in the dark, Ma'am. We'll go back out first thing in the morning, and you both can come along."

"Can we try the other route tomorrow?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, we'll do that. It just didn't make any sense to try it first; it's a stupid shortcut to take."

_**/** _

Daryl didn't want to be alone, so he asked Carol to come home with him for the night.

"I know it's weird but...I don't have any family in town, and I'll lose my mind if I'm alone tonight," he said, trying to explain.

"I have nobody here either. I think I'd go crazy too."

Daryl opened the door and offered her a spot on the couch then started a fire to make the place feel cozier. He was starving and figured she would be as well, so he went into the kitchen to make some food and a hot drink.

"I have a guest room here," he explained. "I'm not trying to...you know?"

"I know," she nodded, "It's OK."

Daryl made her a cup of hot chocolate and started on some chicken noodle soup and toast. He felt guilty for eating, but he knew they should eat something.

"I just can't stop thinking about it over and over again...about the last conversation we had," Carol said softly, staring into the fire like she was mesmerized.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked, sitting down next to her and handing her a bowl of hot soup.

"You'll think I'm a terrible person," she continued.

"I could never think that about you," he insisted.

She took a spoonful of the soup after blowing on it and then commented that she felt guilty for having hot food when they might be hungry and cold.

"Carol, don't feel guilty for being safe and having food. You didn't cause this, it just happened."

"The last thing I said to him was that I wish we'd never met."

Tears rolled down her cheeks again, but her face was expressionless.

"What did he do to you, Carol? I know you wouldn't say that for no reason."

She tipped the bowl to her lips and drank some of the salty broth and sighed.

"He was seeing someone else...but he told me about it, and he apologized. He wanted another chance; he said he only saw her a few times...but I just suspected him all the time. Maybe if I just got over it and was more forgiving, he'd be home right now instead of dead or dying in the cold."

She didn't even seem to blink; he could see it was driving her out of her mind.

"A lot of people don't forgive cheating, Carol. This isn't your fault."

She just stared at the fire, and he wished he had the right words.

"I bet they're OK. Merle is good at survival stuff, and I know he has gear with him. You can talk it out with Shane when we find them...but you have to know that you deserve better than anyone who'd cheat on you."

"You really think they might be alive out there?" she asked, finally looking at him.

"It's definitely possible, don't lose hope OK?"

"Thanks. Like you said, Merle is good at this survival stuff...they might be fine. Sometimes people survive plane crashes, right?"

"Yeah," he nodded, daring to reach out and touch her shoulder. "Just don't blame yourself OK?"

"I'll try not to, but if something I did got Merle injured or...I'm just so sorry."

"I think you need to rest; you're gonna go crazy thinking about this."

Daryl was going crazy too, but they seemed to be taking turns falling apart, and now it was her turn.

"I don't know if I can even sleep," she shrugged.

"Did you want a drink? I was gonna have one just to take the edge off."

"Sure."

He poured them both a whiskey with ice, and she sipped it slowly before turning in.

Daryl walked her to the spare room and put an extra quilt on the bed for her.

"Make yourself at home," he said, standing at the door as she sat on the edge of the bed, still looking sad. "We'll go along with the search first thing in the morning and we'll find them; I got a really good feeling about it."

He was lying through his teeth, but he couldn't bear to see her sad.

"Thanks, Daryl. You're a sweet man."

There was something about the term 'sweet man' that made him feel like her brother or some other nonsexual entity, but he decided to push that aside. It wasn't the right time to make a move by any stretch of the imagination anyway.

He just nodded to her with a friendly smile and closed the door to let her rest. Daryl headed to his room where he allowed himself to fall apart looking at the picture of him and Merle on his dresser from when they were teenagers. Merle was the one person he felt truly himself with, nobody else knew him as well or accepted him so completely. Daryl had no idea how he would ever manage without him. He tried to cry as quietly as he could after spinning such a web of hope for Carol.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Losing Altitude{Chapter 7}** _

It felt like forever before they finally found the right place to stop and take proper rest. They followed along the ice and snow covering the mountain, but she was only in runners, and they were both exhausted.

Merle eventually located a cave that was deep and big enough for a small fire, so he beckoned her to come inside and sit.

"I thought it would be warmer in here," she shivered, settling down on the stone ground.

"I'll have it warm for ya in no time, don't you worry. If push comes to shove, we can strip naked and cuddle till they come find us."

Humor was his coping mechanism, and he wanted to keep his mind off of Shane, thinking of his blue hand gripping the wheel creeped him out. The man had been alive one moment, telling him to shut the fuck up and then...gone.

"Isn't that an old wives tale?" she grinned.

"Nope. It actually works if you're freezing to death, but I doubt it'll come to that," he laughed.

Merle didn't feel too worried yet; they'd left the letter at the crash site, and it would lead any searchers to their general area. He'd been to this provincial park before on a camping trip, so he had a vague idea of where the caves were and had gotten Andrea to draw a basic map on the letter.

Merle dragged the gear inside and found some trail mix and a bottle of water, which he handed to her.

"You have something to eat, and I'm gonna grab some wood and kindling to start a fire, OK?"

"What about your wrist, though."

"I'm OK; I'll warm this place up first."

Merle returned with all the wood he could drag back on the sleigh, and she insisted on fixing up his arm before he did anything else.

Andrea took the first aid kit and wrapped his wrist in a tensor bandage to stabilize it. There wasn't much else they could do with what they had. Merle was uncomfortable being the one cared for. Maybe it was old fashioned, but he didn't think any pretty young woman should have to take care of him. Still, she took some gauze and wet it with alcohol from the first aid kit to clean the blood from his forehead although he tried to stop her.

"Jesus, I'm a mess. I can do that," he said trying to take the gauze from her hands.

"You have to let me do something to help," she argued, holding it away from him. "Besides, you can't even see where the blood is."

He nodded and allowed her to finish, but it made him feel weird to have her cleaning the dried blood from his face.

When Merle closed his eyes, he found that he felt dizzy like he was falling. It seemed he'd bumped his head harder than he thought but Andrea had come out of it almost untouched which made him happy.

Soon there was a roaring fire, and Merle was very glad he'd packed so many matches, they always came in handy when hunting.

"There's more food if you're still hungry. I've got energy bars and cuppa soup...I can heat up water for you."

"I'm OK right now, but thank you. I'll definitely need it later. Thank God you're so prepared," she smiled.

"It's all stuff I was bringing for the meeting and the hunting trip. I'm really glad I have it here for us now."

"Thanks for sharing, Merle," she smiled.

"Take anything you want, OK? What's mine is yours, we're in this together."

He'd mentioned the outfitter's store to her on the way just to make conversation, and she said it sounded like a great idea.

Now that they were alone and warm again it appeared to really hit her what had happened and how close she had come to dying.

"I'd be freezing to death, still pinned under that seat if you hadn't helped me," she said softly.

"Anybody else woulda done the same thing," he smiled.

"Maybe, maybe not...all I know is that I'm here because of you, so thank you."

Merle felt embarrassed by the whole situation, so he shrugged awkwardly and just smiled at her.

The fire was lighting up her face, and she looked a little younger than she had before.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Twenty-three."

"I guess I shouldn't have been coming on to you like that before, sorry."

"It's OK."

"Nah, it's not right to be hittin' on someone younger than me, and you have a baby."

"How old are you?"

"Thirty-two."

"My ex-boyfriend is twenty-five, we split up before my son was even born...he just turned one last month," she frowned, looking like she might cry again.

"Hey, you're gonna see him again in just a couple of days tops, honey. Don't you even worry about that."

"You sound so certain."

"That's cause I am. You ain't gonna freeze to death or go hungry, and you'll be back with your boy in no time. You can take that right to the bank."

When she smiled back at him, he knew he had raised her spirits a little.

Merle pulled out two tin cups that he always took hunting. The cups could be used to boil water or cook over the fire, so they were very useful. If things got bad he could do some small game hunting but no matter what, he wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

He walked out of the cave to fill the two cups with snow and sat them next to the fire to melt them into drinking water.

"I'm gonna make a place for you to sleep, I'll be right back," he said, stepping back out of the cave after grabbing a good sized blade from his hunting gear.

He didn't return for 10 minutes; when he did, he was carrying a huge bundle of evergreen branches in his left arm.

"Took me a while to find the right ones," he said, dropping them on the floor of the cave. "Needed the white pine branches, you can't be sleeping on Douglas fir, that shit's too prickly."

Merle lay all the branches down flat in a basic rectangle shape and covered it with the waterproof ground sheet. There was only one army blanket, but he handed it to her when he'd finished constructing the sleeping quarters.

"You can't just sleep on the ground; you'd be crippled up in the morning."

"What about you?" she asked.

"Don't worry about me, honey."

This young woman had a child to get home to, and he was going to make sure she did that. He wasn't the hero type per se, but he couldn't help liking her. Her vulnerability made him feel needed, and that felt nice.

He actually had skills and knowledge that could help her get back home safe, it almost felt like all the years of reading survival books and camping had been leading him to this very event.

"You can rest if you want, and I'll keep watch," he suggested.

"What for?"

"Bears, cougars or bobcats. They all like sleeping in these caves too."

"Jesus."

"We've got my rifle, honey. No worries. You just rest."

"If you wake me in a little bit then we could switch," she said, and he nodded but knew he likely wouldn't be waking her. Merle had spent more than one night in the cold sleeping sitting up and wasn't going to make her watch out for him.

She lay on her side with his backpack under her head for a pillow, and she looked comfortable enough.

Merle hoped Daryl wasn't too worried but knew he probably would be; that's just who Daryl was.

He almost regretted leaving the text, but he hadn't been thinking clearly at the time. He leaned his head back against the rough stone side of the cave and watched her fall asleep by the firelight.

Merle wasn't planning to make any more moves on her, but as he watched her rest, he still imagined what it might be like to kiss her lovely mouth.

_**/** _

Merle drifted off in the night and woke up freezing cold in the dark with his wrist throbbing.

"Damn it!"

He cursed himself to see the fire had died down but Andrea was still asleep.

He added a few more pieces of deadwood that were piled in the entryway and got the fire going again in no time, but he kicked himself for falling asleep. His head was achy and fuzzy, but he felt responsible for her, so it had to wait.

Andrea shifted and opened her eyes when he moved past her to rearrange the logs in the fire.

"Sorry, honey. You go back to sleep," he whispered.

"You should sleep too," she answered.

"Nah, I already drifted off like a big dope and let the fire die down. I'm OK now."

"You shouldn't have to do everything; I can help."

"You just rest," he said, leaning back against the wall opposite from her. "It'll be warm again in no time."

"Is your wrist OK?" she asked, sitting up to talk rather than going back to sleep.

"Yeah, it'll be fine," he nodded.

"Do you have any pain pills?"

"I got a mickey of scotch and a full flask in my pocket," he laughed.

"You should have a drink."

He figured she was probably right so he pulled it out and had a nice long sip and hissed before offering her some.

"Thank you," she said, leaning across to take it from his hand.

Andrea took a short sip and winced before handing it back.

"That'll warm you up on the inside a little," he chuckled.

"It burns going down," she agreed.

"It's a nice burn, though," he said, slipping it back into his pocket.

"What do we do in the morning?" she asked.

"You stay here, and I'll walk back to the crash site," he said, plainly.

"Shouldn't I come with you?"

"No point in both of us wasting our energy, and we only have one proper coat between us," he reasoned. "You have someone you need to get home to."

"What about you?" she asked.

"I got my brother, but he's a grown man and he'll be OK if I don't make it back. Your boy needs his mother more than my brother needs me."

"I won't have you die for me, Merle," she argued.

"I'm not trying to die out here, trust me, and I don't think either of us will. I'm just saying that if it comes down to it, you need to get back more than I do. You're a lot more important than me."

"Merle-"

"Please, just let me have this...I wanna take care of you."

"Why?"

"I just do."

She let it go when she could see that she was getting nowhere fast with him and asked if she could sit next to him for warmth.

"Come on over," he smiled, holding out his left arm since it's the one that didn't hurt.

Merle wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, rubbing his uninjured hand rapidly up and down her back to warm her up.

Merle felt bad for feeling so happy in the moment when Shane was dead. They weren't especially close anymore, but he'd miss seeing him around town and shooting the shit about guy stuff. Shane wasn't perfect, but neither was he, and he definitely deserved to be alive and sitting in the cave with them instead of alone and lifeless in the wreckage of that godforsaken plane.

"Better?" he asked, trying not to think of Shane's body in the cold and dark.

"Perfect."

She leaned into him, and he sighed long and slow. It was the closest he'd been to a woman in ages. The circumstances were dire and ugly, but he couldn't help feeling almost giddy to have her next to him. Already he'd made it his singular mission to get her back to her son. Maybe it was a little neanderthal, but he felt like a big man to be the one protecting her and providing for her. Merle loved the feeling so much he suddenly wished he had people in his life to care for everyday, maybe a houseful of kids all calling him daddy and making a racket in his normally quiet home. It would be nice to have kids to teach about the outdoors and take camping but he was getting way ahead of himself for a man who didn't even have a girlfriend.

"Is there anything else you need, honey?" he asked, turning his head enough to smell her hair discreetly.

"I'm warm, safe and I'm not hungry or thirsty...I'd say I'm doing just fine thanks to you."

She squirmed a little closer, and his heart swelled inside his chest. If she weren't so much younger with a baby to think of, he'd be begging for a chance to be hers, but she didn't need him slobbering all over her. A beautiful woman like her probably had men chasing after her non-stop, and he didn't want to add to the annoyance. In the meantime, he'd settle for being her caveman and just take the best care of her that he could.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter 8}** _

The next morning, Daryl was up making coffee at 5 am. He didn't sleep worth a damn all night thinking about Merle. He could hear Carol in the bathroom washing up, and he hoped she had gotten some sleep.

When she stepped out, he could see that she'd been up most of the night as well.

"I know I look like hell but I feel like hell, so that's OK," she said softly.

"You look tired, but you couldn't look like hell if you tried," he said, pouring her a coffee "Come have something to eat."

He poured her some cereal, and she ate without much of a word besides thank you. Carol called her second in command, Milton, at the bank and informed him that she couldn't come in until everything had blown over. He agreed that she should do what she felt was best.

Milton rescheduled her appointments for the week and called in a part timer to fill in, so she relaxed a little knowing she had time to deal with the crisis.

Daryl called the police station and asked Rick when they'd be leaving; they were told to come as soon as they were ready.

When they got into Daryl's truck, The Weather Network was warning about a spring storm and Daryl shook his head predicting issues with the search.

When they got to the police station, it was still only 6 am, and they headed to the airport with Abraham again in his SUV.

"So we're trying that other route today?" Daryl asked.

"That's the idea, but there's bad weather coming today...I'm hoping it doesn't hold us up, but it might."

The sky was gray, and there was a definite chill in the air, but Daryl tried to pretend it wouldn't be a problem.

In the early spring, it wasn't uncommon for freak snowstorms and high winds to blow down from the mountains and make life miserable for a day or so. They'd last for 24 hours, and then the return of sun would begin to melt the snow again.

"So you might not be able to search?" Carol asked.

"We need to check with the team leader. We want to find these people but getting more people lost isn't going to help anyone."

"God damn it!" Daryl huffed.

There didn't seem to be as much urgency as he expected a rescue team to have.

"We'll get out there if we can, you need to calm down," Abraham insisted.

"It's my brother out there and her...friend, not to mention this woman who's name I don't even know!"

"Her name is Andrea Harrison; she's from Pemberton. Her ex-boyfriend and her mother are coming down today," Abraham added. "We have a little more information now, and we're gonna use it to do our job, just trust us."

Carol took his hand and squeezed it, trying to get him back to reality.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I keep going from really hopeful to completely messed up."

"Me too, just hang in there with me please."

"I'm trying," he insisted, half smiling at her.

She was the only thing he had to hold onto.

Daryl considered calling their mother in Victoria, but he saw no point in getting her into a panic in her condition when she couldn't do anything about it. He hoped he wouldn't have to tell her that Merle was dead, it would probably be the end of her.

_**/** _

"I'm gonna go see if anyone has been to the crash site and try to attract some more attention to it if I can," Merle announced.

"I'm coming with you, your arm is still injured," Andrea protested.

"It doesn't hurt so much today. I'm OK, I swear. You have to stay here anyway; we only have one proper coat."

She backed down, and it was smart because Merle was as stubborn as the day was long.

"Just keep putting wood on the fire before it dies down, and I'll be back as soon as I can get here," he smiled.

Merle took the coat and told her not to leave the cave for anything.

"See you real soon, OK? Stay warm, honey."

He pulled up the hood of the coat and headed toward the door to leave.

"Wait!"

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking back at her as she walked toward him.

Andrea wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face to his chest, and he was taken aback. He could almost feel her warmth through the thick, goose down coat.

"Please, be careful."

"I'll be just fine," he insisted.

When he made his way out into the air, he discovered how much warmer it was inside the cave compared to out in the elements. It was still morning when he began his trek through the snow back up the mountain.

The sky was a dismal white/gray color, and the wind was harsh against his face.

Merle considered going back; he had spent enough time outdoors to know there was a spring storm coming with heavy snow and ugly winds but he wanted to get Andrea home. If there was some way to attract eyes from above to the crash site they'd be located and she could go home to her son. If nobody saw the plane, nobody would read the letter, and nobody would find them, it just had to be done.

He was kicking himself for not thinking to make the plane more visible before they left but he'd been in such a hurry to get her somewhere warm that he rushed without thinking too in-depth about it.

The head injury he'd sustained made his mind run a little slower than optimum level, but he was trying his best.

Merle just kept thinking of how happy she'd be when she was rescued and safe, every move he made was for that smile. A part of him thought that he might stand a chance with her if he was the one to get her home to her son.

_**/** _

Daryl was pacing the floor of the airport and cursing at the top of his lungs by noon. The spring storm had blown in so only the priority emergency team was deployed, and Daryl had no idea if they were taking the alternate route or not.

"Can't you call and ask them to check it?" Daryl hollered at Abraham.

"I mentioned it to them. Daryl, you need to relax and let the experts do their job!"

"Looking in the wrong place isn't gonna do any good!" Daryl yelled at Abraham.

"Daryl, come sit. There's nothing we can do right now," Carol said, trying to get his attention.

He'd had enough, so he called Rick to give him a piece of his mind about the mess that was being made of the search.

"If they don't get out there and find my brother, I'll do it myself!" he warned.

"If you want to get lost in a storm and freeze to death then that's a great idea," Rick argued. "Tell me, how is getting more people lost going to help? It's not our fault that it's storming at the moment and I won't risk any more lives."

"You're just abandoning the people already out there?"

"Damn it, Daryl! That's not what's happening. When the wind dies down a little, you can go back out, but it's going to be when it's safe, and that's all there is to it."

Daryl hung up and wanted to throw his phone across the room, but Carol's eyes brought him back to reality.

"I'm sorry," he sighed.

"It's OK, Daryl. Come here."

He came to sit next to her, and she held him close to comfort him.

"I'm losing it," he exclaimed. "I swear to God, I'm losing my mind."

"Me too. Just hang on a little longer."

Carol pulled him into her arms and held his head to her chest; it was probably the only situation where he could find any peace under the circumstances. Her touch was the only thing he wanted at that moment if he couldn't have his brother back.

It was amazing how he'd gone from being painfully shy to falling into her arms for comfort so easily. They were all the other had, and it was drawing them so close; they needed each other to make it through to the other side. Neither of them knew what awaited them when all the answers were finally revealed, but they knew they'd need each other when it happened.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter 9}** _

Merle made it to the plane and avoided Shane's body; he couldn't bear to see him that way.

He searched the wreckage for anything he could use as a flag to draw the eye in some way. The wind was starting to howl through the trees and up the mountain side, and he knew he had to work fast. His head hurt and working with one hand was a total joke. Part of him wished he had let Andrea come to help him cause he could definitely use two working hands.

It took him half an hour to locate a big blue tarp and another twenty minutes to secure it to a piece of the wreckage so it would move in the wind a good fifteen feet in the air. He was lucky enough to find a can of black spray paint, so he used it to make a giant X on the ice next to the plane. There wasn't much else he could do because nobody had been there and he couldn't see any planes or helicopters flying past.

He started back and held his sore wrist against his chest thinking he should maybe put it in a sling when he got back; it was sore even moving at his side as he trudged through the snow.

He knew he needed more of her help now that he was out in the cold and wind alone. Merle wanted to take care of everything but with his foggy mind and injured arm he was starting to doubt his abilities to handle it all.

By the time he was descending the mountain, and within forty minutes of the cave, the wind began to blow the snow into his face and higher up into the air. It occasionally took his breath away as he tried to walk into it and the temperature felt like it had dropped 10 degrees.

It seemed to come out of nowhere and pretty soon he was walking into a wall of white swirling hell.

"Damn!" he hissed, holding the hood of the coat closed around his mouth.

He had to stop and turn his back to the wind to breathe but when he looked back the way ahead became unclear. The path he'd been following was starting to fill in with drifting snow, and he felt panic rising up inside.

Only ten minutes later he felt like he needed to stop but wouldn't let himself take a break when she was alone.

He knew he'd made a huge error in judgment by going out alone now and prayed he could find his way back.

Merle's eyes tried to pick out what was sky and what was mountain, but it all looked grayish white, even the trees in the distance were almost invisible to him.

"Fuck!" he shouted.

In another fifteen minutes of slow moving against the bitter wind, he needed to stop and flopped down in a snow bank to think. His hands and face burned and he didn't even know if he was going the right way anymore.

Stopping in the cold was dangerous. He remembered the story of a guy from town who'd been out hunting and nearly froze to death. He said he just stopped to collect his thoughts, and suddenly he was overcome by and urge to sleep, and he actually started to feel warm. That was the way a man would freeze to death in the mountains; he'd hear the sweet siren song of rest and feel inexplicably warm...then he'd just drift away in the storm.

Merle closed his eyes for a moment to just breathe and felt tempted to eat some snow, but that was dangerous too. He was so thirsty and yet surrounded by water. Eating the snow would give him hypothermia before he could blink and it was a stupid idea.

He thought about Andrea alone in the cave, and he could swear he heard her voice outside of his mind and wondered if maybe he was close.

_**~ Shane's a good pilot from everything I've heard; it's going to be OK...** _

He smiled to himself, "Yeah right, sweetheart!" he laughed. "Great pilot! I really am a sucker for a pretty face."

Responding to the voice just made sense at the time, it sounded so real to him. Merle's head was pounding, and the assault of the storm was so disorientating.

_**~ Hold me, please!** _

"Like I wouldn't jump at the chance to hold you, you didn't need to say please...holding onto you when I thought I was gonna die made it not so bad."

_**~ I'm so cold I can't even feel my own body...** _

"That makes two of us, honey," he said to himself with his eyes still closed.

He tried to move his face, but it was stiff and felt numb everywhere.

"I bet you'd be so nice and warm in my bed," he chuckled. "God...what I wouldn't give for that."

_**~ I'd be freezing to death, still pinned under that seat, if you hadn't helped me, Merle...** _

"Like I would just leave you there," he argued with nobody. "I was gonna save you if it's the last thing I ever did..."

He shook his head then and started to realize what was happening...he was losing it.

_**~ I need to get home to my boy...I can't die out here...** _

"Get the fuck up, Merle!" he actually shouted out loud just to snap himself out of it. He was about to end up dead in a snowbank if he didn't get moving. For another few minutes he walked into the wind feeling like he had failed her by trying to be a hero that he clearly wasn't.

"I'm sorry, honey," he uttered under his breath.

He continued on into the storm, deciding that he'd just walk until he dropped, but soon he received the lucky break he needed.

Like a gift from God himself, the wind died just enough that he could guess the right direction and when he started to see the edge of the rocks where the cave was located he heard her again. He prayed it wasn't his mind screwing with him this time.

"Merle! Merle! Where are you?"

Andrea was screaming bloody murder, and it helped him find his way back.

He must have looked like hell because she seemed shocked by his appearance as he stumbled toward her.

"Get in here!" she exclaimed, pulling him inside and next to the fire. "You've been gone for so long!"

"It's so warm in here," he panted, collapsing to the ground and hurting his wrist in the process. "You're real, right? Tell me you're real."

"I'm real, Merle...you're back."

"I could hear you out there...you were talking to me..."

He closed his eyes from exhaustion and for at least an hour he didn't open them again.

_**/** _

Andrea was rubbing his good hand between hers to warm his skin when he finally came to.

"Jesus!" she exclaimed when she noticed his eyes on her.

"I'm so thirsty," he uttered.

"Here, drink some water," she said, handing him a tin cup with warm water in it and helping him into a sitting position.

He drank both cups full, and she asked if he needed more, but he shook his head.

"I was so worried about you," she said, still holding onto his hand.

"I was kinda worried about me too," he chuckled weakly. "I almost fell asleep hallucinating in the snow."

She wasn't laughing at all and just moved in fast to hug him tight. It surprised him, but it felt nice to know it mattered to her that he was OK.

"We need to just stay here and wait until we know the weather is safe enough to leave. You aren't leaving without me again. The storm will blow over tomorrow so maybe they'll come find us here," she said looking hopeful.

"I bet you're right...you sure kept the home fire burnin' nice and warm," he sighed.

"You need to eat something," she said, and he agreed to that, he was ravenous. Three energy bars later he felt almost human, but his hands were shaking from the still chilly blood running through his veins. He couldn't remember ever feeling so cold deep inside like his organs were filled with ice. Andrea heated some water over the fire till it was steaming hot and made him a cup of packaged soup from his supplies.

"Drink this," she insisted, and he knew she was right, he needed something hot to drink.

He lay on the groundsheet after drinking the soup, rested his head on the backpack and looked at her for a moment, but he still felt frozen and continued to shiver uncontrollably.

"What's your son's name?" he asked, trying to distract himself from the cold inside.

"Noah. I named him after my father; he died when I was 16."

"Sorry about that. I hope you still have faith in me getting you back to Noah."

"I have even more faith in you now. We'll get back together," she smiled.

"It was your voice that woke me up," he chattered through his shaking lips. "You were saying you need to get back to your boy and it just snapped me out of it...I think I'd be dead out there right now if I hadn't heard your voice."

"I was just about to come looking for you when you turned up so let's hope I would have found you."

"Don't risk yourself for me, honey. It was evil out there."

"Then let's work together, so we can survive as a team instead of dying for each other," she suggested.

"Deal," he smiled.

He was still trembling and couldn't seem to stop no matter how he tried; it was getting embarrassing.

"You need to warm up, Merle," she said, moving closer to him across the stone floor of the cave.

"I'm tryin'," he laughed. "I'm just frozen right through; I can't help it."

Suddenly she was right next to him and taking off her bunnyhug.

"I'm not taking your sweater, honey," he said, holding his hand out to stop her.

"That's not what I'm doing," she smiled.

"Then what's going on?" he asked.

"Shhh...I'm testing an old wives tale."

Underneath the bunnyhug, she was wearing a silk camisole, and he didn't know what the hell to think next. She was moving so fast, and he was thinking so slowly. Her hands reached out and unzipped his goose down coat, and she lay down in front of him, facing him as he looked at her cluelessly. Merle tried to make sense of life as her fingertips touched the buttons of his flannel shirt and out of nowhere she was opening it and touching his chest.

"Uh-" he began.

His heart was racing, and he didn't trust his senses as she moved closer. Maybe this was a hallucination too.

"Shhh..." she whispered, silencing him.

Her face was so close to his and in the firelight her eyes looked like a surreal shade of blue; he couldn't breathe. Her warm hand touched his waist, and he inhaled sharply from just the intensity of the moment and the sensation of her touch.

After some squirming, her body was pressed against his, and she draped her bunny hug and the army blanket over their bodies. Andrea snaked her arm around his waist and pressed her body to his bare skin inside his shirt. She buried her face in his chest, and he could feel her hot breath just below his throat.

He pulled her in tighter cause it felt so good like they were joined as one.

"You're like a little heater, honey, thank you," he said softly, not wanting the bubble to burst.

The best half hour of his life passed and their breath synchronized as they held on tight to each other's body. He dreaded ever letting go of her for the dual reason that he loved holding her and that she was starting to feel hot to the touch. Her heat felt so good, it felt like life.

With his face tucked between her neck and her shoulder and his hands laying on her upper back, it was uncanny how much it seemed like a dream until she spoke.

"You were right about this...you aren't shivering anymore," she whispered.

The shivering was gone, and he could feel the blood thawing through his body, it was like magic.

"I could steal your heat forever," he chuckled in a low voice, hoping she wasn't about to let go.

"Then maybe we should stay this way for a while longer?" she suggested in a whisper that made him crazy inside.

"You don't have to twist my arm, honey."

She giggled, and he ran his fingers up and down the back of her neck without thinking. Merle tried really hard not to think about the way her breasts were pressed against his chest with only her thin bra and the silk camisole between them. He tried not to think about the way her skin smelled sweet and how nice it would feel to kiss it. He failed in all of these efforts because he was thinking of all of that, and also kissing her sweet lips only inches from his. It was just like him to be thinking about sex when he had just about frozen to death that very day, but he couldn't help it.

When she pulled back enough to look into his eyes, she was smiling, and his heart stopped cold.

Just when he thought she was going to kiss him, she snuggled her face against his chest again, and he sighed heavily, trying not to get ahead of himself. It wasn't easy to do when the only thing on his mind was kissing her pale neck and pulling her underneath him. Merle couldn't recall ever wanting to make love to anyone more, but he didn't want to push a young mother into anything she might regret later.

It was still entirely possible that this was exactly what it seemed like and that anything more was just his wishful thinking and wild imagination. The primary goal had to be keeping them both alive and getting back to civilization. He hoped when they were rescued that this wouldn't be the last he'd ever see of her. Merle was not the type to fall easily. In fact, he couldn't remember it ever happening before, but as he drifted off that night, he knew that he was falling for her.\

_**#################################** _

_**I hope the part where Merle is speaking to his hallucination of Andrea's voice is not too confusing. I watched a first-hand video account of a man who had almost died this way. He said he recalls having a conversation with his wife this way and I found that very touching. The man was found alive but lost some fingers and toes to frostbite O_O! It's common also for those who are stranded in the snow to become tired and to have the sensation of warmth before succumbing to the elements. It's been -43 degrees Celcius with windchill where I live this week so this has been a funny story to post. lol** _

_**Thanks for reading! Teagan XOXO** _


	10. Chapter 10

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter 10}** _

Daryl took Carol home that night after receiving no more answers or any other reason to maintain hope. In the morning they'd be going out and actually checking the alternate flight path, but he was still angry as hell about the delay.

Neither of them wanted to eat, but they forced themselves to have take-out pizza in his living room, unable to carry on much of a conversation.

After eating what little he could, Daryl excused himself to take a shower.

"I'll be right back, I feel filthy," he shrugged.

"Take your time," she smiled.

Daryl took a long hot shower and kept imagining a series of ugly possibilities; Merle's funeral, seeing his mother crying over his death, walking away from the store cause he didn't want to open it without Merle. The store, for Daryl, was an expression of what he loved about his relationship with Merle and their hometown, it would be too painful without him. He got dressed in sleep pants and a t-shirt and wandered back to the living room to sit with Carol, and she looked as tired as he did.

Daryl felt so close to her now, and it was starting to bother him that he'd lied to her about knowing about her break up with Shane. Merle would tell him to keep his big yap shut, that it wasn't worth mentioning, but Merle wasn't there. He knew that confessing about this would also mean telling her why he did it; he'd have to tell her how he felt or else the lie would make no sense at all. Maybe this was the only time he'd have to do it; he may never be this close or this alone with her again. If he ever wanted a chance with her, he'd have to bring his crush out into the light.

"I want to tell you something, but it's something I'm not proud of," he began.

Carol seemed surprised, but told him he could tell her anything.

"Before I called you...I knew you'd broken up with Shane, Merle told me."

"I don't understand."

"Shane told Merle before they took off, and Merle texted me about it from the plane."

"Why?"

"Because I like you, I've liked you for a long time. Merle knew that I'd want to know you were single. I'm sorry that I lied to you."

"I didn't know you felt this way," she uttered softly, and he couldn't read her face yet.

"I'm not always great at knowing what the hell to do, and I just wanted a chance with you even if it was small. I'm not confident and cool like Shane...I'm fumbly and awkward and I'm rambling right now...fuck."

"Daryl, it's OK."

"I thought if you were sad about it and you could talk to me that I'd have a better shot with you. You were always there for me with this business stuff, and I didn't want you to be alone if you were upset. I should have just been honest with you, though."

"Daryl, it's OK. I'm not upset with you at all, I think it's sweet," she smiled.

There was that word again, and it felt to him like it was over, but he hoped he was wrong.

"What does that word mean?" he asked.

"What word?"

"Sweet. It means you just wanna stay friends, right? Like, you don't see me the way I see you...I shouldn't even be asking you this now. I'm sorry."

Carol's face lit up with the first real smile he'd seen in days, and he just waited to know what it meant. She moved just a little closer to him and all the air left the room.

"I find sweetness very attractive," she murmured. "It shows me you have a good heart...I like that in a man."

Daryl lost all sense of reality when she touched his face, and for a moment he didn't think of Merle.

When she leaned in to kiss him just once, it was all he ever anticipated it could be and more. Reaching out to take hold of her was not so much a decision as an instruction handed down and obeyed by his heart. His mouth saught more of her taste, her softness and he found himself lost in her kiss.

The way she yielded to him and the sleepy slow movement of her tongue set him smoldering in agony that felt so right yet so wrong given the timing. Just at the tipping point, right at the edge, they pulled back simultaneously knowing that it just wasn't the time.

They both felt immediately guilty for enjoying something so special in the middle of a nightmare, but it felt so good to have someone to hold onto.

He wrapped his arm around her, the excitement of just touching her was more than enough to sustain him.

"That was nice," he said. "We aren't monster's for doing that, are we?"

"No. Us being together doesn't mean we won't do everything we can to get them all home safely."

"That's true. I hope this turns out right, Carol."

"Me too."

The rest of the evening was spent just holding each other and talking about the resuming search in the morning. They stayed up most of the night and as much as he wanted to take her to his bed, they didn't go there. Making love to her while his brother was still missing would only taint a beautiful experience in his mind.

The clear priority was finding Shane, Merle and the pretty blonde named Andrea that Merle had texted about. When they did get to that point, he prayed that everyone from the plane would be safe and sound at home. Daryl wanted to give Carol the undivided attention she deserved when he was able to sleep with her.

_**/** _

Daryl found himself the next morning in a very dark place, playing a voice mail from Merle on his phone at the dining table. The mood swings were exhausting but impossible to control. Carol approached him and lay her hand on his shoulder then slowly wrapped her arm across his chest. He could feel her face nestle into his neck and he closed his eyes feeling intense joy and pain all at once.

"We're going to find him," Carol said softly, her warm breath drifting across his throat.

"I can't take this anymore," he sighed.

"I know. Let's grab a coffee and get to the police station."

He looked up and nodded to her, "Yeah, this could be the day, right?"

"Right."

When they arrived at the small town airport, they had a short conversation with Andrea's mother and ex-boyfriend, Jimmy, who was holding a small child in his arms and looking panic stricken.

Nobody had any real information, but they shared their worry for a while and tried to comfort each other.

By 9 am Daryl and Carol were up in the air with a team of searchers and Abraham leading the rescue effort. Andrea's family stayed behind since they had a one-year-old to care for but were close at hand awaiting information.

Daryl was excited to see that they were finally taking the route that made sense after wasting time rechecking the standard flight path.

Carol held his hand and scanned the ground as they entered Callaghan Provincial Park and he watched out the other window.

"The storm must have been bad up on the mountain! The drifts are really high over there," Abraham hollered, pointing to the ridge of ice covered mountains ahead.

There was so much to see below them in terms of trees, ice, rocks, and the helicopter was flying fast enough that their eyes had to scan very quickly.

Nothing obvious was coming into view until they heard the co-pilot shout that he could see something blue in the distance. A few seconds later he shouted that he could see an X on the ice.

Daryl leaned forward, and he could see something blue moving in the wind.

"Looks like we got a hit," Abraham called back to dispatch as he continued toward it.

Upon approach, they could see the wreckage becoming more apparent, and that's exactly when it hit Carol that they were all dead.

"Oh my God, Daryl! Look at that!"

She became uncontrollably upset, and Daryl wanted to comfort her convincingly, but it seemed like bad news for everyone.

"It's a flag!" Abraham yelled back to them. "Someone attached that tarp to the plane...that means someone had to have made it."

The co-pilot decided they couldn't land on the mountain, so they sent down a rescue expert on a hoist to survey the scene.

They remained hovering above the site for 10 minutes as she got prepared to be lowered down, and it was an agonizing wait for Carol and Daryl.

"I can't stand this," she said, holding onto his hands and shaking.

"We know somebody made it, maybe they all did," he said, looking into her eyes with all the hope of a child who still believes in magic.

"It's possible," she nodded, trying to convince herself as the woman in the harness disappeared over the side of the helicopter like it was nothing at all.

"She's fucking brave!" Daryl shuddered as the woman dropped lower and lower to the ice covered mountain below.

"You can say that again," Carol agreed.

Daryl's seat had a better view of the crash site, so he was the first to see the search and rescue woman approaching the wreckage. He was the first to see her enter through the twisted remains and he was the one who saw her reaching for her radio after coming out of what remained of the cockpit.

"We have one DOA, the other two occupants are not here," the woman reported, and his blood ran icy cold.

"What?" Carol shrieked. "Who? Who is it?"

Abraham shook his head in disappointment and asked who the victim was before receiving confirmation that it was the pilot.

"No!" Carol cried, melting into Daryl's arms out of grief and exhaustion. "No...how could this happen?"

Nothing could be made right for her in that moment, and all he could do was hold her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

The search and rescue woman added via radio that there was a letter and a map so they'd need to mobilize a ground search for the other victims who had apparently fled on foot.

"I'll wait with the decedent until you can send the chopper with the stretcher lift," the woman added.

"I'm coming for the ground search," Daryl demanded.

"Alright," Abraham agreed. "I'm taking Carol back first. I need to find somewhere to land up here but you can come along."

Carol was in no state for searching, so when they arrived back at the airport, Daryl took her back to his place to rest.

"This is all my fault," she uttered.

"No, it isn't. Abraham said he took a dangerous route and couldn't make it out of the valley. This has nothing to do with you. I can stay with you, I don't have to go," he offered as he held her on the couch.

"No...you have to go and find Merle and that woman. You need to do this. I don't want you having any regrets, Daryl."

"But you're too upset to be left alone right now."

"I'm devastated...but I'm going to be here waiting when you get back. I knew this was possible...now go find your brother while you still can. I can't do anything else for Shane now."

He kissed her slowly and softly and didn't want to let her go, but he needed to try and find his brother if he could.

"Be careful," she whispered. "You have to come back to me."

"I will, I promise."

Daryl started the fireplace for her, handed her a warm blanket and a tall whiskey with ice and swore to her that he'd be returning before she knew it.

_**#########################################** _

_**Just FYI, I have a poll on my bio page on FF.net, asking what types of stories people who like to see me write. If you have a moment, please vote or let me know in a review if you prefer. I have a sequel underway for "Thursday Night Safe Space" that I'll be posting next, but I have a few more idea floating around and would like to know if there's a direction people would prefer that I take.** _

_**Thank you for reading:)** _

_**Teagan XOXO** _


	11. Chapter 11

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter 11}** _

The food was getting low, and the storm had passed, so Merle felt that it was time to move on. This time it would be together, though, no more rogue bullshit for Merle.

Andrea was still asleep on the groundsheet as he fed the fire and watched her breathing slow and deep.

She had started to cry in the night about missing her baby, but she had still been in his arms, and he was happy to hold her and talk to her until she stopped. Merle could only imagine the pain of being away from a child, but he could see that it was significant every time he looked at her.

She had stayed in his arms under that army blanket for hours, and they talked about everything. Merle heard all about her son and how he was the light of her whole life. She was raising him on her own since day one, except on occasional weekends when his father would take him.

Merle told her about living in Vancouver and how much he had missed the land in Pitt Meadows and his brother. She heard all about him and Daryl and how they were still best friends. The night passed slow, and he enjoyed every minute of talking to her. Spending a night with a woman and only talking was new to him but he liked it with her.

Merle loaded up all of their gear onto the sleigh and melted snow in the tin cups for her to drink when she woke up.

Almost dying in the storm was eye-opening, it was her voice that spurred him on...why not Daryl's voice? He could sense that she meant more to him than was probably reasonable. A big part of him hoped that if they got back safely that she'd consider letting him take her out. It was hard for him to tell if she was relying on him to stay alive only or if maybe it was more than that. There couldn't be a worse time to even think of such a thing when their very mortality was still in question, but for Merle, the crash seemed to strip everything else in his life down to the necessities.

The furthest thing on his mind was the business or his home...it was only Daryl and Andrea.

This woman he didn't even know days ago was already near the top of his list.

When she finally opened her eyes, he couldn't help smiling at her messy hair and red cheeks. She coughed as she reached for the water he held out to her. Apparently, the cold was getting to her and perhaps the smoke from the fire as well.

The cave was warm, and she slept closer to the fire than he liked, she seemed to shift closer to it as she slept.

"Good morning," she groaned, rolling onto her back and stretching.

"I think we can leave this morning," he said, knowing it's what she really wanted to hear.

"Yeah?"

"The sky is actually blue and there ain't a cloud in sight. Let's get you back to your son, hey?"

She was up and ready to go in no time after drinking some water and gorging herself on energy bars. Her cough persisted, and she sounded very congested deep in her chest. Merle knew he had to get her back sooner than later now.

"I'm pulling the sleigh for a while," she insisted.

"Not with that cough, you aren't."

"Merle..."

"Yeah?"

"I'll never forget what you've done for me."

"It was my pleasure...you helped me too. I won't forget you either."

He knew then that when they got back, he wouldn't see her again and it hurt like hell.

They began walking up the trail along the side of the mountain to the crash site to wait for a while, assuming searchers would be out in the nice weather.

"If nobody comes in an hour or so then we need to walk through the park to the highway, but it's a hell of a long way," he sighed.

"We'll make it," she smiled.

"Yeah, I have a good feeling they'll find us today, though...it was a horrible way to meet you but, I'm still really glad I did," he said, trying to memorize her face before she was gone from his life.

"Me too. Maybe we could-"

"Merle!" a stranger's voice called from out of nowhere.

The voice was loud and followed immediately by someone else calling for Andrea.

"Over here!" Merle hollered back.

The voices were coming from around the ridge of rocks and moving closer by the second.

It was Daryl's voice, and Merle stood silently as he appeared around the corner.

"It's my brother," he uttered to Andrea, and she squealed when she saw the rescue team he was with.

"We made it, Merle! We fucking made it!"

She jumped into his arms in excitement, and he spun her around before setting her back down.

"Are you a sight for sore eyes!" Merle exclaimed, reaching for Daryl when he got close enough.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Daryl said, hugging him tight.

All the way back Merle just stared at her excited expression as Daryl told her that her son was at the airport with her mother and Jimmy. She wouldn't even have to wait to see Noah and the happiness she felt over that alone was palpable. Her cough sounded horrible now, but she didn't seem to care less about that when she was about to see her son.

The team on board called an ambulance to meet them at the airport due to the cold they had endured, likely dehydration, Merle's broken wrist, and her cough.

When the helicopter landed, Andrea ran to the airport and grabbed Noah from her ex and sobbed uncontrollably.

Merle never felt happier in his life than to see them reunited. The child looked just like her, blonde and blue eyed.

Andrea's ex-boyfriend wrapped his arms around them both, and it made perfect sense to Merle. Even if things hadn't worked out between them, she was still the mother of his child.

He received a hug from her mother and a handshake from the ex for helping her get back safely, and he insisted that she helped him as well.

"Next time I'm working in Pitt Meadows I'm taking you for a drink, man. Gimme your number," he insisted.

The ex-boyfriend introduced himself as Jimmy and although Merle couldn't really see them 'hanging out' he felt obligated to put his number in the phone that was handed to him.

Andrea was already being walked to an ambulance and between Daryl and Carol, Andrea's family, all of the searchers and medical personnel he couldn't get anywhere near her.

An EMT began to ask him endless questions about his wrist and other medical related nonsense as he tried to follow her with is eyes.

Andrea was helped into an ambulance where they were taking her vitals as she clung to her son. He just hoped she'd look back at him once.

When she finally did he just smiled to her, and she mouthed the words 'thank you' before the doors closed and she was gone.

They weren't friends or family, but it felt so wrong that they'd been through so much together and now she had just disappeared.

_**/** _

Merle was taken to the hospital as well, where he hoped he might see Andrea but didn't. He just wanted to talk to her, maybe see if they could stay in some kind of contact.

Daryl and Carol were excited to have him back safe and sound, and he was grateful to see his brother again. His wrist was wrapped in a better dressing, and he was treated with IV fluids and kept for observation. Daryl and Carol stayed with him at the hospital and then took him back to Daryl's place for the night.

Merle went immediately to the bathroom for a long hot shower and stripped out of his clothing piece by piece already wondering where Andrea was. Maybe she was at the hospital, or a hotel with her mother, or with Jimmy patching things up. He kicked himself for even thinking of it and just stepped under the hot spray and groaned loudly.

Daryl said he was ordering him chicken and potatoes from his favorite restaurant and his stomach was growling already at just the thought of it. The doctor had tried to get him to eat hospital food, but he told him there's no way he was touching it.

Apparently, Daryl had wasted no time with Carol and although she was obviously grieving there were the seeds of something between them already.

Merle took so long in the shower that the hot water was dying as he got out but he felt human as he stepped out to dry off.

He threw on some of Daryl's clothes and collapsed on the couch next to Carol.

"I'm so happy you and that woman are OK," she smiled, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

"Me too. I told you flying was bullshit, Daryl!" he said, teasing his brother.

"You're not setting foot on a plane again," Daryl sighed. "Ever."

"I'd walk before I'd fly again."

"How did you ever survive that storm?" Daryl asked when they finally got settled in the living room.

"We just hid in the cave, made a fire, ate energy bars and drank melted snow. I almost froze to death in that fucking storm, but that's a story for after I've eaten something. What does a man have ta do to get a drink around here?" he laughed.

Daryl couldn't believe his high spirits and got up to grab him a drink.

"Carol..." Merle began when Daryl left the room. "I'm really sorry about Shane; there wasn't anything I could do. He just didn't survive the crash. I think he saved our lives with the choices he made in the end, though."

"I just wish I'd waited to break it off with him...I feel so responsible," she shrugged.

"You aren't."

"How can you know that? He must have been angry about it, or upset or something. He's never had a bad flight before."

"I'm not saying he wasn't upset at all, I'm sure he was trying to save face a little, but he wasn't angry or falling apart."

"No?"

Merle didn't want to sound like an asshole to tell her something like what he was about to, but it was the truth, and he didn't want her blaming herself for no reason forever.

"He used the phrase 'plenty more fish in the sea' if I remember correctly."

"Did he now?" she said, almost laughing but also almost crying. "I'm gonna miss that prick."

Carol fell apart then, and by the time Daryl came back with his drink she was being held in Merle's big arms and crying all over his shoulder.

Carol would always regret not waiting to break it off, but it didn't sound like she was the primary reason for the crash. Either way, Merle's words helped her to begin forgiving herself.

_**/** _

It would be days before anything felt anything like normal and Merle didn't expect to be over Andrea for a good while to come. The thought of calling the hospital crossed his mind or looking for her number in Pemberton, but he didn't know what to say to her. He'd never felt this way about anyone, and under the unusual circumstances, none of his options felt right.

In typical Merle fashion, he pretended he wasn't sad and tried to make jokes like everything was fine. The only one to see through his facade was Daryl, and he planned to get to the bottom of it.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter 12}** _

Daryl waited patiently for Carol to come out the other end of her grief, and knowing that she wasn't the cause of the crash helped her a great deal.

Shane's funeral was as somber as everyone expected and she spent the afternoon that day with his parents. Carol felt obligated to pretend she was still with him when he died. She didn't want his parents thinking he'd passed away immediately after a break-up, it would just leave them with unnecessary questions. Losing a son with his whole life ahead of him was hard enough to deal with without the additional information. Merle and Daryl paid their respects and met up with Carol at his house afterward.

Daryl was so glad that Merle had told her the truth so she could move on and grieve for Shane without the guilt of thinking she had caused his death.

Merle took only a day at home to rest before he jumped in and got started on planning the opening of the store. Daryl had the feeling he was trying to stay distracted, and from what he pieced together it had to do with Andrea, but Merle was staying relatively quiet about it.

Carol was spending a lot of her time at Daryl's house; it just felt good to be together. Daryl cooked for her, held her as they talked and tried wherever he could to make her smile or laugh.

By the end of the first week, she was smiling again regularly and everything between them changed by moving forward.

There were moments where they'd be kissing and touching, and he could tell she felt guilty for feeling good, but it was becoming less and less all the time. Daryl never really believed she'd be his, so waiting was no big deal to him at all. Just being with her made him feel very lucky. The way he had built her up in his mind made her seem unrealistically perfect, but she surpassed it all in every way.

He'd look up from a book or some paperwork during that first week and catch her eyes on him, and his heart always skipped a beat. Carol was there with him, and he was the one to dry her tears and hold her close, life was a dream.

_**/** _

About a week after finding Merle, Daryl was feeling calm and content again. Carol was sitting in his living room reading as he shaved his face at the bathroom sink. She had come over before he even got dressed and he was standing in his boxers before the bathroom mirror hoping she liked what she saw when he answered the door. Daryl half watched her through the open bathroom door as he finished shaving at the sink. She looked deep in thought and beautiful.

He took a quick shower then wandered back to his room to get dressed as he dried his hair with a towel.

He was just wondering what she'd want to do that day when he looked up and found her sitting on his bed.

"Oh! Hey," he laughed. "You scared me."

"Sorry," she smiled.

Standing in front of Carol with only a towel around his waist made him feel a little vulnerable, but the look on her face said she liked it.

He reached for his clothes, and she stood up to take hold of his hand before he could get to them.

"Daryl...would you think I'm a terrible person if I wanted you to take me to bed so soon after Shane died?"

"No."

"I just don't want to wait any longer?" she confessed.

Daryl's heart began to pound in his chest, and he immediately pictured her under him.

"We don't have to wait," he uttered.

Daryl began to feel an out of character kind of courage that was likely brought on by the fact that she apparently wanted him, there was no question she was into it.

He figured he'd attempt a little cockiness, just to try it on, just to see how she reacted.

"Carol...I've been crazy about you for months and months...you just say the word, and I'll lay you out on this bed right now."

She bit her lip and looked up at him through her lashes; her expression was different than before.

"Do it," she grinned.

Daryl smirked, and for all his shy boy charm, he had only desire for her as his nerves eased into arousal.

His kiss morphed swiftly from soft and tentative to breathlessly heated, and his arms pulled her close to his body as he lay her down.

The towel he'd had around his waist came undone and fell onto the bed as she moved her hand down to touch him, lighting him on fire and watching as he burned.

There was no time wasted and the pace moved faster than he ever expected from her. She pulled off her own shirt and eased him between her legs as her nails scratched softly down his back.

He kissed her like he'd never let her go and he didn't plan to if he could help it. He eyed the clasp on the front of her bra and unfastened it before burying his face between her breasts and kissing her slightly salty skin like he'd been thirsting for her for weeks.

Soon he was backing up to unzip her jeans and pulled them off with one swift yank. Knowing this is what she really wanted helped to push his awkwardness out of the equation.

The pain, the panic, and the worry had finally been alleviated and paved the way to comfort, desire and lust.

She was laying on his bed in her panties, and he couldn't believe it was even happening, he finally had the one woman he wanted.

The number of times he'd dreamed of her was bordering on pathetic, but here she was, pleading with her eyes for him to take her.

Sliding her panties down her legs was surreal, and he shook his head in disbelief as he did.

"What?" she asked, grinning up at him.

"I wanted you so bad for so long...and here you are."

She sat halfway up to pull him down to her and kissed his neck with her soft lips.

"I'm right here, and I only want to be with you, Daryl."

He kissed her all over and made love to her slowly. Every single sensation was being documented in snapshots imprinted on his heart; this would last a lifetime, and he knew it.

The sheen of sweat on her forehead, the way she moaned his name, her eyes rolling back into her head as he brought her right to the edge...everything was perfection.

There was nothing over the top or crazy about it but holding her leg around his hip as he drove into her was a moment that would stay with him always.

He never wanted any woman this way and knew that he never would again. Kissing her was Christmas morning; making love to her was New Year's Eve.

"I love you, Carol...I wanna make love to you every day," he panted as it was approaching the end and he didn't regret it one bit. Daryl wore his heart right on his sleeve; she may as well know that now.

If the crash had taught him anything, it was that you didn't know if tomorrow would be there when you decided that you were ready to live.

Everything had to be now.

He came undone just after she did but hanging on had tested his strength to the very brink.

Daryl held her head against his chest after flopping onto the mattress and just tried to breathe.

"I love you too," she whispered.

She was still catching her breath, and it was only soft and quiet, but he heard it clearly, and he smiled.

_**/** _

Carol hung out for a while longer but had to get some errands done and do some laundry at home. She asked him to come over the next evening so she could cook him dinner and he couldn't wait for that.

Carol felt human again and ready to get back to work and her life, thanks to Daryl. The only thing that still troubled him was Merle.

"I need to see Merle today," Daryl said, kissing her at the door again. "He still sounds kinda funny."

"Is he OK?" she asked, grabbing her keys from her pocket.

"I hope so, but he mentioned that woman Andrea a few times the last time I talked to him. It seems like something happened between them."

"Talk to him; he might be having trouble dealing with everything."

"He just jumped into working on the store full-time, he's working his ass off. I'm gonna go pitch in right away; I'm sure he's there already."

"You're a good brother, Daryl. Say hello for me."

"Call me later, OK?" he grinned, stealing a last kiss.

"I will. Love you."

_**/** _

Daryl was just about to call Merle when he ended up receiving a call from him first.

"So, I got a call from Alan Carlson, and he's investing in us!" he exclaimed without so much as a hello.

"What? You didn't even meet with him, though."

"He heard about the accident and called me. We talked for a really long time, and he just decided to fly down to meet with us instead. He says he wants to invest either way. Great news, right?"

Merle sounded happy again, and Daryl was relieved to hear it.

"Come on over, and we'll celebrate with a couple of beers!" Daryl suggested.

"Be right over."

Within ten minutes, Merle rode up on his bike and parked it on the street out front.

After two ice cold beer, Merle appeared to be more relaxed and had a smile on his face.

"It's all coming together now, hey?" he sighed.

"Yeah. I'm glad we got your people skills to influence the wealthy and powerful!" Daryl joked.

Merle noticed a wine bottle and two glasses on the dining table and noted that he and Carol must be getting pretty serious.

"I'm really happy for you, Daryl. I know how much you liked her."

"Thanks, man. I never thought it would happen."

"I figured it would someday. I didn't see her staying with Shane forever; they were an odd couple."

"I'm just grateful she gave me a shot."

"Of course she did, you're the good-looking brother," Merle laughed.

"Have you spoken to Andrea at all?" Daryl asked and then immediately regretted it when he watched Merle's face fall from laughter to the most sullen expression he'd ever seen.

"No."

Merle shook his head and walked to the kitchen for another beer. He didn't usually drink so fast, and Daryl knew he was hurting.

"Why should she wanna talk to me anyways? I'm just some guy she crash landed with by accident," he said, twisting the cap off the beer.

"Well, you said you had some nice moments alone together," Daryl said, knowing he probably shouldn't push it.

"You know me; I read into things too much. She was...amazing, but it was just a total fluke that she even spent that kinda time with me. Only a near death experience could get me close to a woman like that."

"I shouldn't have brought it up, sorry."

"It's OK," Merle insisted. "I don't even care...it doesn't bother me. Plenty more fish in the sea, right?"

He drank half a beer in one sip and lay his head back on the couch looking suddenly drained.

"I love you, brother, but you're a shitty liar," Daryl sighed.

"I know, but lying to myself is a lot easier right now."

Daryl could see the pain in his brother and tried to say something encouraging.

"I bet she misses you too; you should find her number and call her."

"It was so nice being with her, Daryl. She needed me, and I took care of her but then she took care of me too. If I call her now and she doesn't want to see me, it'll ruin all of that in my head."

"Or she might be really happy you called and want to see you too, you won't know if you don't try."

"She said she wouldn't forget me...you don't say that when you want to keep seeing someone."

Merle shrugged and offered him a phony half smile before finishing his beer and suggesting that they go for a hike. Merle often ran off to the woods to escape, so it didn't surprise Daryl one bit.

"You got it," Daryl smiled.

They walked to the trail not far from Daryl's place and spent a couple of hours in near silence. This was how Merle dealt with things, so Daryl just went along for the ride, happy to have him back. The woods and the fresh air would hopefully clear Merle's mind and help him see what a fool he was being.

If Merle didn't call Andrea soon, Daryl would have to intervene cause seeing Merle like this was agonizing.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter 13}** _

Merle worked every hour God sent and was spending all day at the store unpacking boxes and stocking shelves. His wrist still ached sometimes, but it was healing fine, and he was just instructed not to lift anything heavy with his right arm. Daryl was busy with Carol a lot, but he still came and put in a full 8 hours every day.

Daryl had Carol to spend his evenings with, and he understood that. If he had someone at home waiting for him, he'd be there too. Daryl had harassed him more than once about calling Andrea up and telling her flat-out how he felt, but Merle just didn't see it working out in his favor.

Alan Carlson had come down to meet them and would be attending the dinner the night before they opened the store. He handed them a hefty check to help them with the start-up expenses and Merle was getting all the final touches in order.

He worked until almost midnight every night to avoid his feelings. It had been just about two weeks since he'd been found and he still missed Andrea all the time. He didn't want to be at home alone; his house felt huge since he'd come back.

The only person who called was Daryl and his mother who was suddenly very overprotective and a little pissy at being left in the dark until he'd been rescued. He had to promise to go and see her as soon as he could and was instructed to take the train rather than flying.

_**/** _

When the night before the grand opening dinner arrived, Merle was still at the store at 7 pm when he got a call from Daryl.

"Go home, Merle, everything is done."

"I'll just be a little longer," he sighed, sitting behind the counter and unpacking some printer paper that didn't really need to be unpacked.

"Seriously, you should get some rest. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day. The mayor is coming and a bunch of town council people. Me and Carol can come in to double check everything in the morning."

"Yeah, I'm almost done," he repeated.

"Merle, get your stubborn ass home now!" Daryl pressed.

"Fine! Jesus! What's with you anyway?" Merle grumbled.

"Just trust me, OK? Go home."

Merle figured he may as well get home; there really wasn't anything left to do.

_**/** _

Merle was home and crashed on the couch in the dark, watching a movie he didn't care about on the TV by 8 pm.

He was almost asleep in his sweats and a t-shirt when he heard a knock at the door.

Merle was going to kick some ass if this was his neighbor again complaining about where he parked his bike. He set his beer down on the coffee table and wandered to the door.

When he opened it, she took his breath away.

"Andrea?"

"Hi."

She was standing there on his front step with Noah in her arms and a look on her face like she was a little lost.

"Are you busy?" she asked.

"No."

He still couldn't believe he was looking at her and his manners went right out the window from shock.

"Can I come in for a minute?" she asked, shifting the child onto her other hip.

"Of course, honey...sorry. Come right in," he fumbled, stepping out of her way.

Noah was squirming so she set him down on the floor and took his boots off. He was in a snowsuit, and he looked tired from what must have been a long drive.

Andrea sat down on the couch across from Merle and took off the child's toque and mitts

"How did you know where I live?" he asked, feeling very confused but so excited to see her as well.

"Daryl told me."

"Oh, Lord! Did he call you?" he winced.

"Yes, and I'm really grateful he did. I wasn't brave enough to call myself."

"Me neither...I thought about it a lot, but I chickened out."

Merle shook his head in disbelief and watched as her son toddled around his living room.

"I know you said that I'm too young for you, but I don't think it should matter if we liked each other, right?" she began.

"I said what?"

"You said you wouldn't hit on me anymore cause I'm 23 and have a child."

"I only meant that I didn't want to harass you. I just didn't think you'd want me to hit on you."

"Oh! Well, that changes things. I thought you had a problem with seeing me."

"No."

Noah started to fuss and flopped down on the floor, pulling a tablecloth off the dining table.

"I'm sorry," she said, getting up to pick up the mess.

"He's just a little guy, they do that," Merle chuckled. "Don't worry about it."

Merle got up and approached the little one, scooping him up into his left arm, because his right was still weak.

"Maybe he's overheated in this?" he asked when he noticed the child's pink cheeks.

"Probably, I just didn't know how long I'd be here, so I left it on."

Noah reached out curiously and grabbed Merle's face, but he rolled with it casually and sat him on his lap to unzip his snowsuit.

Merle placed him back down on the carpet with the TV remote to play with and patted his head.

"Better?" he asked him, and the child just looked up indifferently before sticking the remote in his mouth to chew.

"He normally acts really fussy around strangers," she noted with surprise.

"Yeah? I must be special, huh?" he joked.

Merle was always the type to joke around when he felt nervous or put on the spot; it served him well most of the time.

"You're definitely special," she smiled, and he became even more excited by her presence.

"You sure came a long way, honey," he smiled.

"I came here because I wanted to tell you that...even though I met you on the worst day of my life, it was also one of the best."

He smiled and awaited more of her words cause he knew it was heading somewhere really good.

"That crash was the scariest thing that ever happened to me, but being with you in that cave was one of the nicest. You made me smile and feel hopeful when everything was falling apart...holding onto you in the cold was the warmest I've ever felt. I've really missed you."

"I've missed you like crazy, Andrea...I didn't think I'd ever see you again. You got pulled away so fast I didn't even get to talk to you."

"I know, I really wanted to see if we could stay in touch but the crowd was insane, and my mom was dragging me to the ambulance."

"All I've done since I last saw you is mope around and think about you," he laughed. "I wanted to call, but I was scared you might not want to see me, I'm a coward like that."

"You are not a coward...your bravery saved my life."

He shrugged and then insisted that they saved each other.

"So it's not an issue if I'm younger or that I'm a mother?" she asked.

"I don't care about your age, and I love that you're a mom. Are you saying you'll let me take you out?" he asked, smiling from ear to ear.

"I'm saying that I'd love for you to take me out."

"Do I need to ask the little man permission to hug you?" he teased.

"I think he'll be fine with it," she grinned, coming to sit next to him on the couch.

Noah tossed the remote aside and toddled down the hall to investigate a laundry basket, and Merle decided to try for a first kiss.

He pulled her into his arms, and it felt right. She was meant to be next to him; he could feel it. Her blonde hair smelled like peaches and he buried his face in it to seal the moment in his mind.

When he pulled back to look at her face she was waiting for a kiss; he knew just enough about women to sense it.

Merle touched her cheek first; he never did that before, but he wanted this to be a different kind of kiss altogether.

When he got closer, her eyes closed and he lay the softest of kisses on her lips.

She reached out and held onto his elbow as she opened her mouth and the kiss became passionate and more intense. She moved fast, and if her son hadn't been there, he would have happily scooped her up and taken her to bed.

Her mouth tasted like cherry coke, and he pulled back only when Noah grabbed at his shirt.

"Sorry, little man, am I pushin' it?" he chuckled.

The baby didn't seem to care in the least and wandered away to play with the remote again.

"Where are you staying?" he asked.

"The Motel 6 just off the highway. I actually need to check in while I can still get a room."

"Why don't you and Noah stay with me till you head back to Pemberton."

"Really?"

"We've already shared a cave. I have a spare bedroom here for you. To be honest, I won't sleep if I'm picturing you two in a Motel 6."

"You sure?"

"Of course. But what does Noah sleep in? I ain't got a crib," he added with a grin.

"I have a playpen for him in the trunk of my car."

"Then stay," he said, reaching out to touch her hand.

They talked for a little while longer and then it became apparent that Noah was ready for sleep as he rubbed his eyes and fussed. They grabbed her bags from the car and set up the playpen in Merle's spare room. Merle loved the idea of having a little one around for a few days.

"How does he usually go down?" Merle asked, knowing kids often had a routine.

"Watching Thomas the Tank Engine on TV and drinking milk," she shrugged.

"We can manage that, I think," Merle said, picking up the remote and locating a channel with kids 'on demand' shows.

He found the show she mentioned and asked for the baby's cup to go fill it with milk from his fridge.

"You're already more helpful than his father," she noted.

"Yeah? That's a shame. He's not into childcare at all?" he asked.

"Honestly, I don't think he really wanted a family. Don't get me wrong; he does love Noah, but he's just not mature enough to be a father. He likes to avoid responsibility whenever he can."

"Sorry you have to deal with that," Merle said, handing her the cup.

"It's OK. I feel proud that I've done it pretty much all alone...but it would be nice to have someone to share all the good things with."

She began to wrap a fleece blanket around Noah to cuddle him before bed and when she looked up at him he knew he wanted her there forever.

"Maybe you could share those good things with me," he suggested.

Daryl told him to be direct and just tell her what he wanted. You never knew in life when you're plane was going to crash...you had to jump when love was right in front of you.

"Really?" she asked.

"No pressure, honey...but I'm right here and ready if you want to take a leap. I know how I feel about you and I'm sure about this."

"I want all of that too," she answered.

Her face was priceless and perfect, and he was really glad he'd listened to Daryl.

Merle turned the lights low and put on the cartoon for Noah who drank from his sippy cup wrapped in a blanket on his mother's lap.

Merle watch from his chair the way she'd kiss the side of Noah's head as he watched the show and rubbed her fingers over and over on his cheek. This was obviously something they did every night as a sleep ritual and in no time the child's eyes closed for longer and longer periods of time until he was out like a light.

Merle wanted to watch this happen every night.

Andrea scooped him into her arms and walked him into the spare room where she lay him in the playpen to sleep. Andrea covered him with a blanket and Merle put a nightlight in the room, so if he woke up, he wouldn't be scared alone in the dark.

"I always kick something on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, if you're wondering why I have a nightlight," he whispered.

Andrea giggled and closed the door of the spare room behind her, then followed him back to the living room.

"Thank you, Merle."

"It's nothing," he insisted.

She moved a little closer to him on the couch, and he couldn't think of a single reason to not make a move. All the obstacles were nudged out of the way, and the path to her altar was clear.

Merle was already wondering how to convince her to move to Pitt Meadows, but first, all he wanted to do was kiss her.


	14. Chapter 14

**They only have sex once in this story, so I wanted to make it a good one...this is not safe for work.**

##########################

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter 14}** _

After 20 minutes, Andrea tiptoed to the spare room to check on Noah.

"Is he good?" Merle asked.

"Sleeping like a baby," she nodded and came to sit back next to him.

Merle raised his arm up on the back of the couch, inviting her closer and it worked like a charm. You couldn't beat the old fashioned tricks, but as it turned out she had some new tricks to teach him as well.

"I can't believe I'm here," she said, leaning into him and sighing softly.

He moved a piece of hair behind her ear, and his mouth was drawn to her neck.

"I wanted to kiss your neck so bad back in that cave when you curled up with me," he confessed.

"I wish you had," she whispered.

"Didn't know if you wanted me to."

"Then we need to be a lot more clear with each other, don't you think?" she queried.

"It would sure help me anyway...I never know what a woman wants until she spells it out for me," he chuckled.

Andrea turned her head to look at him, and her eyes said 'kiss me' so he did, words were unnecessary with eyes like that.

Before he could blink, the 23-year-old he thought he'd have to go slower with, was crawling onto his lap and peeling her shirt over her head.

His heart raced like an excited puppy, and his eyes went wide as she settled her weight on his lap.

"Merle..." she whispered in the sexiest voice he'd ever heard.

"Yeah?"

"I haven't had sex since I was 4 months pregnant when Jimmy took off, and it wasn't very good."

"That long?" he asked.

He could see the pure lust in her eyes, and as she spoke her hips moved in his lap letting him know just what she needed.

"It's a very long time...I forget how it even feels...can you remind me?"

"I'll sure try, honey," he muttered hoping like hell he could put his money where his mouth was.

Andrea wrapped her arms around his neck, her breasts right up in his face and ran her tongue around the shell of his ear giving him goosebumps like a kid. In a million years he didn't see it going down like this.

He ran his big hands up and down her thighs and then slowly up her back to her neck. Her skin was so soft and warm that it didn't seem real.

Her open thighs, her needy arms and the taste of her sweet mouth had him thinking he was ready to get her in his room.

"This is where I'd normally pick you up and take you to my bed...but the doctor would kick my ass if I screwed up my wrist now," he explained.

"I'm happy to walk," she purred.

Andrea got to her feet, and he looked up at her, standing in her jeans and a baby pink bra like and angel.

"You're too fuckin' pretty to even touch," he grinned, not even knowing where to start.

Andrea unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them slowly down her legs. Her face was serious and sexy, and he never had anyone this beautiful trying to be with him. Just when he thought it couldn't get hotter, she moved her hands behind her back, unfastened her bra and tossed it in his lap.

"You better touch me, Merle, cause I'll be touching you," she stated and then she walked to his bedroom in only her white cotton panties.

"Fuuuuuck me," he hissed, holding his hands to his eyes for just a moment before getting up to follow her.

She was laying on her belly on his bed when he walked in, with her feet to the door and he wished he had a picture of her perfect ass right there in front of him.

Merle peeled off his t-shirt and crawled onto the bed toward her like approaching his master.

He kissed the back of her calf, and she turned her head to look at him with a smirk.

"Daryl wouldn't tell me much but he said you'd want to see me," she moaned.

Merle kissed higher and higher up the back of her leg and ran his hands up to her waist.

"I should have called you, honey...I shouldn't have let us be separated in the first place."

She rolled over onto her back and smiled up at him.

"I need you now...I can't wait," she said, and he came down over her to get things moving.

There was only a small lamp on the dresser that made for excellent sex lighting. Merle hated bright lights in the bedroom, but he definitely wanted to see her.

He was rolled onto his back when she decided she needed to take the reins; he loved how impatiently she yanked his pants off to get to his body.

As she ground herself against his dick through their underwear, he took her breasts with his hands and urged her to his hungry mouth. Andrea held his head to her chest and whined at the way he teased her with his tongue.

"Damn that's good," she panted.

Soon she was kissing her way down his body and ridding him of his boxers.

"You move pretty fast, girl...but can I do a little favor for you first?"

"Just a moment," she whispered.

The next few minutes were spent with Merle writhing on the sheets and trying not to cum down her throat. For a younger woman, she had skills he never imagined. She pushed him to within inches of the precipice with her hand and mouth like he didn't think possible.

She was just running her tongue slowly up his balls when he gasped and had to stop her.

"Honey...wait...Jesus! My turn!"

"So what kind of favor did you mean?" she grinned.

"The kind of favor where I wrap your legs around my head," he said, kissing her thigh and winking at her.

"Damn!" she whined. "This hasn't happened since before I got pregnant!"

"Jesus! What the hell was Jimmy's problem?" he inquired, pulling her panties down her legs and tossing them over his shoulder.

"He was kind of selfish in bed."

"His loss is my gain," Merle growled and lay his big hands on her knees. "I think you'll find that I'm a giver more than a taker."

She held her hand to her mouth and moaned as he urged her legs open.

"You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, honey," he uttered, bowing down to kiss her calf and moving inch by inch up her leg.

She closed her eyes and panted softly as he reached his arms under her open thighs to hold her hips.

He kissed slowly all the way up to her belly where she was trying to cover her c-section scar as if he'd care.

"Honey, don't..." he whispered trailing soft kisses from one hip to the other across the thin line.

By the time he licked her lips, she was firing on all cylinders.

"Don't stop! Please don't stop!" she pleaded.

"I ain't stopping unless you say so," he insisted as she grabbed his hair with both hands and lay her feet on his shoulders.

It really had been a long time cause he wasn't even 2 minutes into it and she was falling apart.

Merle was holding her thighs and teasing her into a stupor with his tongue slipping between her folds and then sucking softly at her clit. He worked her over and soon her back was arching, and he had to remind her to keep it down for Noah.

"You wanna stop and get him back to sleep?" he teased.

"No...do not stop," she cried out from the ledge.

He finished her off faster, with two fingers deep inside her stroking her sweet spot and his mouth never letting up once.

"Oh God...oh God...oh sweet Jesus..." she whispered frantically as he felt her walls tighten around his fingers.

Merle rested his head on her soft belly as she enjoyed the afterglow and waited for her to say what she wanted next, he was her willing servant.

"I'm not looking to make a sibling for Noah quite yet," she moaned. "Please say you have a condom."

Merle got up and grabbed one from his underwear drawer and soon she was rolling him onto his back and threw her leg over his body. She proceeded to rock his world like never before, and he let it all sink into his new reality.

He hissed and grabbed at the sheets, he was absolutely unglued, and the sight of her riding him was the most wicked thing he'd ever witnessed.

"You feel so good in me, Merle...so fucking good! I needed this...gimme this every night," she whimpered.

He loved how needy she was even after she had already cum. She needed dick, and she needed it yesterday.

Merle didn't remember 23-year-olds being like this when he was 23. He was still taking it very slow at that age, but Andrea was showing him a thing or two. She raised one foot up to rest it on the mattress beside his hip and leaned back a little, coming at him from a different angle. Merle grabbed at her thighs and could feel himself coming apart at the sight of her open legs and their bodies connected as one.

"Christ almighty!" he growled.

She leaned forward again and lay her hands on his chest near his shoulders like she was the aggressor then fucked him fast and hard.

"Jesus, woman!" he hissed, trying to keep it down but he'd never been done like this before.

Sex this good felt too amazing to be love; but why couldn't it be the best sex ever and still be real love?

He was close to cumming apart, but he desperately wanted to get her underneath him before he did.

Merle caught her by the waist and also the back of her neck and flipped her over to do his part.

He took her legs and held them up and open as he slowed it down and made her whine for it harder and faster.

"You'll get it fast in a second," he grinned.

Her hand moved down her body to her clit, and she moved her fingers in circles over the powerful nerves, it made his mind go fuzzy. Then she slid her fingers down along either side of his dick to add a little pressure, and he threw his head back in ecstasy. Her evil sexy eyes, her breasts rocking to the motion of his thrusting and her fingers adding that sweet pressure was more than he could handle.

He needed to be the one to get her there though so he licked his fingers and took over working her clit and then it happened.

The sensation of her body and the motion of his hips driving into her made the world fade to black for a full 3o seconds that he wished would never end as she reached her second orgasm.

He was drained of everything but love when he collapsed next to her.

He swept the hair off her sweaty forehead and kissed her lips once.

"Do you remember now?" he grinned.

"I don't remember that...it was never that good before. This was the best I ever had," she smiled.

"I want you with me, honey. What do I need to do to get you to move here?"

"Not too much. I moved in with my mother after Jimmy left, so I'm looking to be out of there sooner than later," she grinned.

Merle reached out to pull her closer, but she was squirming to get out of bed.

"You OK?" he asked.

"I'm great. Sorry, I just need to check on Noah."

"Don't apologize, I get it. Here," he said, handing her his house coat.

"Thanks."

She came back a few minutes later and crawled back in beside him.

"He didn't move a muscle. He'll be crashed right through until morning. It was a long drive for him."

"I'm planning to sleep in myself. How long can you stay?"

"A few days," she said, yawning and pulling the sheets up to her chin.

"But then you'll think of moving here?" he pressed, knowing he shouldn't be pushing her.

"If you're sure about it, then yes. I'll need to work something out with Jimmy for visitation but, yes," she grinned, kissing him and curling up in his arms.

"I'll stop harassing you, I'm just excited," he whispered.

"It's OK, I'm excited too."

"Goodnight, honey."

"Goodnight."


	15. Chapter 15

_**Losing Altitude {Chapter 15}** _

Merle opened his eyes to the sound of babbling in the other room and was lost for just a split second until he looked over to see Andrea nestled up next to him.

She looked exhausted, the long drive to Pitt Meadows and the kind of sex they had would tire anyone out.

Merle rolled out of bed to see if he could manage Noah on his own. He wanted to show Andrea that he could pull his weight with a child, and hoped Noah would be as cool with him as he had been the night before.

He pulled on some sleep pants and a t-shirt before heading to the spare room to get him up.

"Hey you," he said, and the child looked confused for a moment."You want mama or Thomas the Tank Engine?"

He reached down to lift him out and walked him to the living room, but soon discovered that he'd peed through is diaper onto his sleeper.

"Let's find you something dry, boy. You done pissed yourself," he laughed.

In 15 minutes Merle had him in a dry diaper with a pair of overalls and a striped t-shirt he found in his diaper bag. The kid didn't seem bothered by him being the one to take care of him at all; Merle had never met such a calm child. Andrea saying that he made strange with new people, seemed out of character for Noah.

"You like pancakes, kid?" he asked but got no reply.

Merle made him pancakes with chocolate chips anyway; he figured that no kid could resist such a thing. He washed and filled his sippy cup with milk, and they ate together watching cartoons. Merle found that he liked doing this kind of thing, living alone had gotten old long ago.

Noah ate two little pancakes, and Merle found him a soccer ball to kick around the living room. He already wanted to take him camping. He was so quiet that Merle could see him being a good fisherman.

When Andrea finally showed her face, they were playing a game of living room soccer, and she grinned as she watched them.

"Sorry I slept in, I must have been wrecked."

"Don't worry about it," Merle said, taking a break from the game to grab her a coffee. "I'm asking you to live with me, and I don't even know how you take your coffee."

"Just cream," she smiled.

"Yeah, you're sweet enough already, ain't ya?" he smirked.

The morning was sleepy and lazy, just the kind of morning to get a man hooked on the idea of a family. Andrea ate her pancakes and praised his use of chocolate chips.

"I'll make 'em for you anytime you like," he grinned.

_**/** _

"You got this, babe," Carol whispered, kissing him softly between the shoulder blades as he stood before the mirror.

"Thanks...I'm nervous," Daryl confessed.

"You put so much work into this; you're ready," she insisted.

Daryl turned in her arms and held onto her for a moment.

"All those people tonight and then opening the doors tomorrow, it's just a lot to take in," he sighed.

"I'll be right there with you, and then you'll have Merle by your side after that, it's going to be fine."

"Speaking of Merle, I wish I coulda seen his face when she showed up on his doorstep," he laughed.

Thinking of how happy his brother would be eased his anxiety about the grand opening party and their first day of business.

"I can't wait to hear all about it," Carol agreed.

Daryl loved sharing everything with Carol; it made life sweeter in every way. The lows weren't so low, and the highs were even higher, being with her made everything better.

"You made all my dreams come true, Carol," he smiled, pulling her in for a kiss.

"I didn't think men like you existed, Daryl. I love you so much already."

Daryl took a slow deep breath and enjoyed the fact that everything was right in his world.

_**/** _

Merle took the first chance he could to call Daryl when he walked down to the basement to throw in a load of laundry including Noah's wet sleeper.

"Hello?"

"Daryl, I fucking love you!" he exclaimed.

"I take it you had a visitor," Daryl laughed.

Merle could hear Carol in the background pestering Daryl for answers.

_**What happened?** _

_**Are they together?** _

"That woman showing up at my door is the best thing that could have happened to me. Thanks, brother."

"I got sick of watching you pout, and the second I got her on the phone she sounded just like you, I could hear it in her voice."

"I should have listened to you when you told me to call her."

"I know you aren't just afraid of flying, Merle, it's OK. This is why you have a brother in the first place. I take it you'll be bringing her to the party tonight?"

"Damn! I gotta ask her, but I think she'll come. She's talking about moving down here already."

"You two don't waste any time, do you?" Daryl laughed.

"I'm sick of wasting time; I want her and Noah here with me."

"That's awesome, man."

_**/** _

Merle took Andrea out for lunch with Noah and bought her a new dress for the grand opening party. She objected, but Merle told her he wasn't listening to any argument on the subject.

"Let me spoil you a little, I like having someone to blow my money on," he pleaded.

"OK," she sighed, allowing him his way.

Merle also insisted on buying Noah a toy truck he was eyeing up, using the excuse that he needed to have a toy to play with at his house.

Merle loved them being with him and was very proud to walk into the restaurant with them that evening for the grand opening celebration.

The gathering for the new store was just some friends from town, guys they both hunted and drank with, and some assorted town dignitaries.

Alan Carlson graced them with his presence, and the general tone was one of jubilation.

The little dream Daryl had, in the beginning, had blown up into something incredible that he could share with Merle; he could see it all coming together before his eyes.

Daryl loved seeing his brother happy but seeing him playing daddy to a 1-year-old was going to take some getting used to. He never knew that Merle wanted a family, but it was obviously something that was coming naturally to him.

"I'm so glad you came," Daryl said to Andrea when he found her alone for a moment. Merle was taking Noah to find some desert and showing him off to some friends.

"Thanks for stepping in," she smiled. "We might never have done this ourselves."

"You two look good together," Carol grinned.

"It was such a strange way to meet, but I just knew that he was different. He never once thought of himself up there. He didn't even know me, and he put me first right from the beginning. He's a good man...I want to take care of him right back."

Daryl knew then that Merle was in good hands, everything was as it should be.

Merle walked over to them, with Noah in his left arm, and Daryl couldn't believe how much things had changed so quickly. They had a little group now to build on and the world at their feet.

_**/** _

The dinner drew to a close after some speeches and well wishes for great success to both Merle and Daryl. The mayor of Pitt Meadows even raised a toast to them in their endeavor.

The brothers had a few drinks with Alan Carlson as Andrea and Carol doted on Noah, but he had to leave early.

"There's always work to be done in business, boys!" he groaned. "At least you two have each other to handle everything, so you'll be alright."

Alan shook their hands and told them both to keep in touch. He would be up for regular meetings, but he added that he was only a phone call away for advice.

"Thanks for taking a chance on us," Daryl said.

"Not too much of a risk, you know what you're doing here. Don't doubt that and you'll do just fine," he assured them.

Daryl hadn't done this for the praise, but it did feel good to have support.

So long ago he had walked into the bank with only a dream on a piece of paper, and now it was a reality.

Carol was the first to believe and with her kindness and never ending support she had captured his heart.

Merle left with Andrea when Noah got fussy, and Daryl was sure to hug him rather than just shaking his hand. After getting Merle back alive, Daryl vowed to hug his brother more and never to let anything come between them.

"See you in the morning, brother," Merle said.

"I can't fucking believe we're opening tomorrow," Daryl laughed.

"Believe it!"

_**/** _

Carol came home with him at the end of the evening, and he watched from his couch as she slid her feet out of her heels and walked toward him.

"You happy?" she asked, sinking down next to him on the couch.

Daryl felt the kind of happiness that needed more than a simple 'yes' to explain, so he decided to try.

"I feel like when I was a kid, and spring would finally come," he began and she looked at him funny.

"You know when you'd be walking home from school and there would be puddles and slush on the sidewalks? Suddenly you'd be thinking of summer holidays, and you just felt alive."

"I know what you mean," she said, and he could tell that she really did. "Like when you could finally smell the trees again, and the sun felt warm on your face for the first time in months?"

"Exactly! I feel like everything is just the way it should be and it's only gonna get better."

She turned his face to hers and smiled at him the way he'd always dreamed of.

"It's going to be perfect," she agreed, and he knew she was right.

Daryl had won Carol's heart, Merle was alive and in love, and the very next day they'd be opening the store...he couldn't think of a single thing he needed that he didn't already have.

Like one of those fleeting moments when you're 6 and the whole world is beautiful, and without blemish, Daryl felt euphoric happiness that he prayed would last for himself, and those around him.

~ The End ~

**###############**

**For anyone who's interested, 'Back to the Safe Space' will begin posting on Monday and I'll be posting every couple of days.**

**Just a few notes about this sequel:) It is a story where the main intention is to ask questions of the characters and society in general about relationships and sexuality, such as:**

**/**

_What should a marriage be like?_

_What does it mean to have desires that don't meet society's standards?_

_Who do you trust and why?_

_What are the differences between emotional and physical attraction?_

_Where are the boundaries and should we dare to push them?_

**/**

**This story is mostly a character study of the effects on our two couples as they undertake another course of sexual education classes approximately a year after the last installment 'Thursday Night Safe Space.' There are definitely some plot points and a few minor conflicts, but it is mainly for the purposes of following the journeys of the characters.**

**There are some elements of groups sex, voyeurism, sexual experimentation but mostly this is a Caryl love story, so if this sounds like it's up your alley then I hope to see you on Monday:)**

**Love ya! Teagan xoxo**


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